Stats: Fastest to 400 Test wickets

Dale Steyn is congratulated by his teammates after picking up his 400th Test wicket

Dale Steyn joined the illustrious 400-Test wickets club after he dismissed Tamim Iqbal in the 2nd Test match between Bangladesh and South Africa which got underway at Mirpur today. He completed the feat in his 80th Test match, the same as the great Sir Richard Hadlee.

Only Muttiah Muralitharan has been quicker to achieve the landmark with the Sri Lankan spin wizard reached the landmark in just his 72nd Test match.

The current World No 1 in the longer format of the game is only behind Shaun Pollock, who has 421 scalps to his name, in the leading wicket-takers chart for the Proteas. The former South African skipper reached the 400-wicket milestone in his 103rd Test match, a record that has been shattered by some distance.

• Steyn became the 13th bowler to reach the landmark in the history of the game – 9 fast bowlers and 4 spinners.
• India has the most representatives with three players in the list, followed by Australia, West Indies and now South Africa with two-a-piece.
• James Anderson picked up his 400th Test wicket on May 29 on the opening day of the 2nd Test match between England and New Zealand. With Steyn reaching this landmark 61 days later, it is now the shortest gap between two bowlers to get to this feat, eclipsing the 62 days gap between Akram and Ambrose.

Fastest to 400 Test wickets

No	Bowler	Matches	Innings	Time since debut	Opposition
1	Muttiah Muralitharan (SL)	72	117	9 years, 137 days	Zimbabwe
2	Dale Steyn (SA)	80*	149*	10 years, 225 days	Bangladesh
3	Sir Richard Hadlee (NZ)	80	140	17 years, 0 days	India
4	Anil Kumble (IND)	85	148	14 years, 58 days	Australia
5	Glenn McGrath (AUS)	87	168	8 years, 341 days	Pakistan
6	Shane Warne (AUS)	92	169	9 years, 233 days	England
7	Wasim Akram (PAK)	96	168	15 years, 141 days	Sri Lanka
8	Harbhajan Singh IND)	96	175	13 years, 103 days	West Indies
9	Curtly Ambrose (WI)	97	176	12 years, 137 days	England
10	Shaun Pollock (SA)	103	191	11 years, 29 days	India