One Day International matches have undergone many changes ever its introduction in 1971. Over the past fifty years, power plays have been introduced, new balls at either, etc. All these do tend to affect the way the players perform. ODI’s started as a ‘Grave Yard ‘ for bowlers and became a hunting ground for them later.
Below is the list of 20 such bowlers who were the quickest to achieve the prestigious 100 wicket-haul in terms of matches played.
The second table analyses who won the race to 200 wickets in ODI’s. Surprisingly many of the people who were well below the top-twenty in the first table make it to the Top 10 to reach 200 wickets. It’s a game of consistency, and only a few can achieve it.
TABLE 1:
| Ranking | Player Name | Matches | Bowler Type | Country | Days since Debut |
| 1. | Rashid Khan | 44 | Leg-Spin | Afghanistan | 2y 158d |
| 2. | MA Starc | 52 | Fast-Medium | Australia | 5y 306d |
| 3. | Saqlain Mushtaq | 53 | Off-Spin | Pakistan | 1y 225d |
| 4. | SE Bond | 54 | Fast-Medium | New Zealand | 5y 12d |
| 5. | Mustafizur Rahman | 54 | Fast-Medium | Bangladesh | 4y 17d |
| 6. | Brett Lee | 55 | Fast-Medium | Australia | 3y 16d |
| 7 | TA Boult | 56 | Fast-Medium | New Zealand | 5y 165d |
| 8 | Mohammed Shami | 56 | Fast-Medium | India | 6y 17d |
| 9 | JJ Bumrah | 57 | Fast-Medium | India | 3y 164d |
| 10 | MJ Henry | 57 | Fast-Medium | New Zealand | 8y 63d |
| 11 | Imran Tahir | 58 | Leg-Spin | South Africa | 5y 112d |
| 12 | Kuldeep Yadav | 58 | Leg- Spin | India | 2y 208d |
| 13 | Waqar Younis | 59 | Fast-Medium | Pakistan | 3y 110d |
| 14 | IK Pathan | 59 | Fast-Medium | India | 2y 100d |
| 15 | M Morkel | 59 | Fast-Medium | South Africa | 5y 230d |
| 16 | DK Lillee | 60 | Fast-Medium | Australia | 10y 289d |
| 17 | SK Warne | 60 | Leg- Spin | Australia | 3y 257d |
| 18 | Shoaib Akhtar | 60 | Fast-Medium | Pakistan | 4y 24d |
| 19 | NW Bracken | 60 | Fast-Medium | Australia | 6y 72d |
| 20 | YS Chahal | 60 | Leg- Spin | India | 5y 240d |
TABLE 2:
| Ranking | Player | To100 Wickets | To 200 Wickets | Earlier ranking | 100-200 wickets. Matches. | Less or More Matches? |
| 1. | Saqlain Mushtaq | 53 | 104 | 3 | 51 | Two matches less |
| 2 | Brett Lee | 55 | 112 | 6 | 57 | 2 Matches More |
| 3 | Alan Donald | 64 | 117 | 28 | 53 | 11 Matches Less |
| 4 | Waqar Younis | 59 | 118 | 13 | 59 | Same |
| 5 | Shane Warne | 60 | 125 | 17 | 65 | Five matches more |
| 6 | Makhaya Ntini | 69 | 126 | 50 | 57 | 12 Matches less |
| 7 | Lasith Malinga | 68 | 127 | 42 | 59 | 9 Matches less |
| 8 | Mitchell Johnson | 65 | 129 | 34 | 64 | One match less |
| 9 | Shoaib Akhtar | 60 | 130 | 18 | 70 | Ten matches more |
| 10. | Geln McGrath | 77 | 133 | 79 | 56 | 2 Matches more |
