Top Wicket-Takers in T20s: Rashid Khan Goes to the Top Beating Former CSK Star Player During SA20 2025 Qualifier 1

Afghanistan spin great Rashid Khan has set a new record to become the leading wicket-taker in T20 history with his 2-33 in the SA20 Qualifier 1 on Tuesday.

Rashid, who is the captain of MI Cape Town, claimed the wickets of Sri Lanka all-rounder Dunith Wellalage to surpass former West Indies and Chennai Super Kings all-rounder Dwayne Bravo’s tally of 631 wickets. The leg spinner then got the wicket of former India wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik to become the format’s most successful bowler.

Rashid Khan’s staggering consistency brought him to this stage

Bravo, in April 2016, became the first to reach 300 T20 wickets and went on to add more than double to that tally in the next eight years. Rashid is still 26 and has all the time to reach new heights with his wrist spin that has kept batters all around the world dumbfounded.

Even more impressive about Rashid’s tally is his remarkable consistency in being among the top wicket-takers every year. Since 2017, which is two years after his T20 debut, Rashid has picked up 50 or more wickets for seven straight years.

Rashid Khan’s T20 wickets by year since his debut

His tally of 96 wickets in 2018 which he amassed while playing in franchise leagues in Australia, South Africa, India, England, and Afghanistan alongside internationals, is the highest ever by a bowler in a single calendar year. 

“It’s a great achievement. I never thought about it, if you asked 10 years before this if I would get there. It’s a proud feeling to be from Afghanistan and to be at that level where you top the table. DJ (Bravo) is one of the best T20 bowlers. It’s a great honour and I’m looking forward to continuing,” Rashid humbly said after the match.

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Bravo, who had seen the inception of the Twenty20 format after debuting in ODIs in 2004, had taken 10 years to reach 300 wickets while Rashid made his debut and went past 600 wickets within a decade.

Sunil Narine, Imran Tahir, and others are not a competition to Rashid

Among active players, Rashid’s nearest competition is West Indies Sunil Narine who has 574 wickets and South African legspinner Imran Tahir with 531 wickets. But Narine, 36, and Tahir, 45 years old, might not be able to catch up to Rashid. The case is similar with Shakib Al Hasan (492 wickets) and Andre Russell (466 wickets) who are farther down the list while also aged 35-plus.

Besides the ridiculous average of 18.07, Rashid also has the second-best economy among the top-10 bowlers with 6.5 RPO even after playing 461 matches. Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga, who was the pioneer of several innovations in T20 bowling, is currently ninth on the list with 390 wickets in 295 matches.

Rashid, despite his injury struggles off late, is unlikely to slow down this year as he has 11 wickets just over a month into 2025. 

Among Indians, Yuzvendra Chahal is still the most successful T20 bowler with 364 wickets from 312 matches with an average of 23.32 and is 12th in the overall list. The next best India bowler is former India legspinner Piyush Chawla who has 319 wickets from 297 T20s.

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