Rabada – the most lethal bowler in the 300-wicket club
Rabada became the 39th bowler to enter the 300-wicket club in Tests and quite fittingly, his strike rate is 39.2, the best among all bowlers who have achieved this milestone
ESPNcricinfo stats team21-Oct-202411,817 – Deliveries taken by Kagiso Rabada to get to 300 Test wickets, the fewest by any bowler. He is the only bowler to reach the landmark in under 12,000 deliveries, and is 785 balls quicker than the next best, Waqar Younis.39.2 – Rabada’s strike rate, at the end of Bangladesh’s first innings of the ongoing Test in Mirpur. It’s easily the best among the 39 bowlers who have taken 300-plus Test wickets. Dale Steyn is next with a strike rate of 42.3.
Rabada’s strike rate is also the best among the 33 bowlers who have taken 100-plus wickets since his Test debut in November 2015. Next-best is Jasprit Bumrah’s strike rate of 44.ESPNcricinfo Ltd10 – Series of at least two Tests for Rabada, where he has taken 10 or more wickets at a strike rate of under 40. Given that he has played a total of 24 such series, that’s a percentage of 41.67. Among 178 bowlers who have played at least 10 series of two or more Tests where they’ve either bowled at least 50 overs or taken 10 wickets, there’s no bowler who has a higher percentage of achieving sub-40 strike rates with the ball. Bumrah is in second place with five such series out of 13.
10.05 – Rabada’s bowling average against the lower order (Nos. 8-11) in Tests, which is the best among the 31 bowlers with at least 30 such wickets in the last 10 years. His strike rate of 17.54 balls per wicket is also the best. In terms of averages, Bumrah’s 11.35 is the second-best.
Against the top seven batters, Rabada averages 27.17, which ranks seventh out of 42 bowlers who have taken at least 60 such wickets in the last 10 years. The bowlers ahead of him in this list are Kyle Jamieson, Bumrah, James Anderson, Vernon Philander, Pat Cummins and Morne Morkel.
37.43 – Rabada’s strike rate against right-handers – he has 201 such dismissals, at an average of 18.85. Against left-handers the stats are a little more modest – 101 wickets at an average of 25.63, and a strike rate of 44.28.
100 – Wickets for Rabada in his last 20 Tests, at an average of 19.09 and a strike rate of 34.2. He had a lean two-year spell before that, when he averaged more than 33 at a strike rate of 58 in 10 Tests, but since June 2021, Rabada has hit top form once again.