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PakPassion.Net takes a look at the top 10 T20, ODi and Test bowlers of the last two years.

Whenever we use stats to rank cricketers it causes issues, people disagree about whether players should be ranked by average, eco or strike rate. So I'm going to be using a very simple formula to balance out these three stats and rank the bowlers by their PPR (PP Rating).

For limited overs cricket (T20 and ODI) the emphasis will be on economy rate but the average and strike rate will also be considered. The fomula will be as follows (Avg + SR) x Eco / 100 = PPR.

For test cricket the emphasis will be on strike rate but economy and average will also be considered. The formula will be as follows (Avg + Eco) x SR /100 = PPR.

As is the case with any formula it's not perfect but it balances out the three main stats we use to rank bowlers (btw I'm aware it duplicates some stuff) and the results are pretty accurate.


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Top 10 T20 bowlers

The stats below exclude minnows and include all T20s played so far. The filters are a minimum of 5 matches played or 10 wickets taken plus an average below 25! The players are ranked by their PPR and any Pakistan players that didnt make the top 10 are listed as well...
 

PPR Inns Wkts @ Avg S/R Eco 4WH 5WH WPI Name

1.36 7 13 @ 11.53 12.0 5.8 1 0 1.9 U Gul (Pak)
1.64 11 17 @ 14.29 15.5 5.5 1 0 1.5 D Vettori (NZ)
1.88 7 13 @ 14.69 12.9 6.8 1 0 1.9 RP Singh (Ind)
1.89 6 10 @ 15.30 14.3 6.4 1 0 1.7 M Morkel (SA)
1.96 8 13 @ 15.46 13.8 6.7 1 0 1.6 A Razzak (BD)
2.03 6 10 @ 15.00 12.0 7.5 0 0 1.7 J Taylor (WI)
2.28 13 15 @ 18.46 17.2 6.4 0 0 1.2 N Bracken (Aus)
2.37 10 16 @ 16.81 12.4 8.1 0 0 1.6 J Patel (NZ)
2.47 6 10 @ 17.90 13.8 7.8 1 0 1.7 M Asif (Pak)
2.66 7 10 @ 20.20 16.8 7.2 1 0 1.4 S Clark (Aus)



1.47 2 3 @ 13.33 16.0 5.0 0 0 1.5 S Malik (Pak)
2.08 3 4 @ 14.50 10.5 8.3 0 0 1.3 F Alam (Pak)
3.04 2 3 @ 19.33 12.0 9.7 0 0 1.5 A Razzaq (Pak)
3.18 9 9 @ 25.11 22.3 6.7 0 0 1.0 S Afridi (Pak)
3.76 7 6 @ 29.33 26.0 6.8 0 0 0.9 S Tanvir (Pak)



 

Gul is clearly the undisputed king of T20 cricket, his yorkers are devastating and his death bowling without equal. Asif also makes the list down at number 9 and they're the only two Pakistanis to feature in the top 10.



 

RP Singh had a great T20 WC and is 3rd whilst Vettori comes in at 2nd. It's amazing to see a Bangladeshi player in the top half of the list, I feel T20 is a form of cricket where BD can really make their presence felt because whilst they have the talent they lack the application. In T20 all you need is that talent to come off for a few overs and the match is won.



 

I was surprised to see how poor Tanvir's figures were but he was on debut and has improved a lot since the IPL.




 

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Top 10 ODI bowlers

 

The stats below exclude minnows and are only for the last two years. The filters are a minimum of 10 matches played or 20 wickets taken plus an average below 35! The players are ranked by their PPR and any Pakistan players that didnt make the top 10 are listed as well...



 

PPR Inns Wkts @ Avg S/R Eco 4WH 5WH WPI Name

1.61 16 35 @ 15.74 22.5 4.2 2 1 2.2 B Mendis (SL)
2.24 18 31 @ 21.45 29.4 4.4 0 1 1.7 A Flintoff (Eng)
2.62 21 43 @ 22.51 24.2 5.6 2 0 2.0 U Gul (Pak)
2.62 24 39 @ 24.07 29.5 4.9 1 0 1.6 N Kulasekara (SL)
2.65 25 41 @ 24.82 31.6 4.7 0 0 1.6 K Mills (NZ)
2.67 41 60 @ 25.40 34.0 4.5 3 1 1.5 N Bracken (Aus)
2.71 23 36 @ 25.19 31.2 4.8 0 2 1.6 B Lee (Aus)
2.72 14 22 @ 26.22 35.5 4.4 0 0 1.6 Sidebottom (Eng)
2.73 25 38 @ 25.18 31.7 4.8 2 0 1.5 B Hogg (Aus)
2.96 15 28 @ 25.92 28.9 5.4 1 0 1.9 S Tait (Aus)



2.98 7 12 @ 26.25 30.0 5.3 1 0 1.7 S Akhtar (Pak)
3.16 22 38 @ 27.86 30.7 5.4 2 0 1.7 I Anjum (Pak)
3.47 18 28 @ 30.42 33.8 5.4 1 1 1.6 S Tanvir (Pak)
5.92 22 20 @ 54.05 64.3 5.0 0 0 0.9 S Afridi (Pak)



 

What a debut season for Mendis, he's head and shoulders above everyone else. Flintoff has been in good form with the ball (if not the bat) over the last couple of years and Gul comes 3rd because of his high economy rate. It's been quite a couple of years for Gul and it's a shame he hasnt had a chance to get his test career moving whilst he's been in such prolific form.



 

When you remove the minnows, our 'best ODI bowler' Afridi is taking less than a wicket per match and has an average that even Sami would be embarassed to admit to. Also his PP Rating is closing in on double the rating for the next worst ODI bowler! In fact Afridi is the only Pak ODI bowler who isnt performing (nor with the bat) the rest are keeping an average around 30 or less.




 

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Top 10 Test bowlers

 

The stats below exclude minnows and are only for the last two years (excluding the ongoing Test match between Eng and WI). The filters are a minimum of 10 matches played or 30 wickets taken plus an average below 35! The players are ranked by their PPR, no Pakistani player made it for obvious reasons. I'm including the top 12 bowlers so as not to offend our Indian friends who may end up wondering where Zaheer (number 11) is...



 

PPR Ms Wkts @ Avg S/R Eco FWH TWH WPM Name

8.4 15 90 @ 20.57 35.1 3.5 8 3 6.0 D Steyn (SA)
15.8 18 76 @ 25.30 56.5 2.7 5 1 4.2 Sidebottom (Eng)
16.3 12 44 @ 31.09 46.5 4.0 3 0 3.7 F Edwards (WI)
17.1 17 79 @ 28.53 53.8 3.2 3 0 4.6 B Lee (Aus)
18.1 18 78 @ 28.62 57.4 3.0 2 1 4.3 M Johnson (Aus)
18.9 13 45 @ 32.13 53.0 3.6 1 0 3.5 J Taylor (WI)
20.4 13 43 @ 28.60 65.4 2.6 1 0 3.3 S Clark (Aus)
20.6 14 43 @ 31.18 60.2 3.1 1 0 3.1 I Sharma (Ind)
20.8 15 62 @ 32.87 57.4 3.4 3 0 4.1 J Anderson (Eng)
21.1 10 56 @ 29.87 64.6 2.8 5 1 5.6 M Murali (SL)



21.2 15 55 @ 31.61 61.2 3.1 2 0 3.7 Z Khan (Ind)
23.1 12 35 @ 31.80 66.7 2.9 4 0 2.9 Shakib (BD)



 

What a phenomenon Steyn is, his PPR rating is twice as good as the next 5 on the list! It's also great to see two West Indian fast bowlers in the top 10, hopefully it's a sign of things to come.



 

Sidebottom was the biggest surprise for me, I know he's been doing well but not that well. Ishant comes in at number 8 justifying the hype around him, at least for now. His partner in crime Zaheer just misses out on a top 10 place.



 

Also it's great to see a Bangladesh bowler in the top 12 Test bowlers for the last 2 years, Shakib is impressing one and all.



 

Murali has had a quiet couple of years and is down to tenth but that just shows what an incredible bowler he is. If you can be 10th in the world when you're having a bad patch then how good are you when you're on fire??



 

Below are the test stats for the Pakistani bowlers...



 

PPR Ms Wkts @ Avg S/R Eco FWH TWH WPM Name

15.3 1 7 @ 30.00 45.0 4.0 1 0 7.0 Y Arafat (Pak)
23.5 3 9 @ 33.11 65.2 3.0 0 0 3.0 S Akhtar (Pak)
23.7 2 11 @ 32.00 68.1 2.8 0 0 5.5 A Rehman (Pak)
34.6 2 6 @ 41.00 78.5 3.1 0 0 3.0 U Gul (Pak)
45.3 5 22 @ 47.72 89.0 3.2 0 0 4.4 D Kaneria (Pak)
67.5 2 5 @ 63.20 100.8 3.8 0 0 2.5 S Tanvir (Pak)



 

Kaneria is the only one who's played a decent amount of tests and these stats how what some of us mean when we say 'sure he takes wickets but what's it worth?'