Top 10 wicket-takers in Ranji Trophy

With the 84th season of the Ranji Trophy almost upon us, it's the perfect time to brush up on the history of the prestigious tournament. The most important first-class competition in the country has seen many great players take the field for their respective state sides.

While some went on to achieve greatness with their performances from the bat, some went on to pick a truckload of wickets. In this article, we'll be talking about 10 bowlers who have picked the most number of wickets in Ranji Trophy.

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#10 Erapalli Prasanna

Erapalli Prasanna

Part of the famous spin quartet (Erapalli Prasanna, Srinivas Venkataraghavan, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar and Bishan Singh Bedi) of the Indian national team of the 60s and 70s, Prasanna went on to bag 370 wickets playing for Karnataka in Ranji.

On top of that, the off-spinner bagged 189 wickets in 49 test matches for India.

#9 Utpal Chatterjee

Utpal Chatterjee

The Bengal left-arm bowler has 401 Ranji wickets to his name. After making his debut in the 1984/85 season, Chatterjee went on to play for 20 years and retired in 2005.

In the 1999-00 season, he picked 52 wickets, a record for the state of Bengal. Moreover, Chatterjee played three one day internationals for the country, picking three wickets in the process. He couldn't make the cut for the test team.

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#8 Bishan Singh Bedi

Bishan Singh Bedi

Another Indian great, Bishan Singh Bedi bagged 403 Ranji wickets in a first-class career spanning almost 20 years from 1961/62 to 1980/81. Astonishingly, in first-class matches, Bedi has over 1500 wickets in 370 matches.

For India, the Delhi and Northamptonshire bowler played 67 test matches and in the process, picked 266 wickets. He has seven ODI wickets to his name as well.

#7 Sairaj Bahutule

Sairaj Bahutule

The leg-break bowler has 405 wickets in the competition, which he picked while playing for various sides including Mumbai, Maharashtra, Assam, Andhra and Vidharbha. He even had a County stint with Surrey.

Having made his debut in 1991/92 season, Bahutule played for more than 20 years, and even got a chance to play for India, but couldn't impress to maintain his place.

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#6 Vaman Kumar

Vaman Kumar (left)

Another leg-break bowler in the list, Vaman Kumar started his career way back in 1955/56 for Tamil Nadu and went on to pick 418 Ranji wickets by the time he retired in 1977.

Kumar also featured for India in two test matches and famously, bagged a fifer in his debut against Pakistan. Overall, he picked one short of 600 wickets in his 129-match strong first-class career.

#5 Bhagwath Chandrasekhar

Bhagwath Chandrasekhar

Though you won't find top Indian batsmen in the list of all-time Ranji run-scorers, the wicket-taking list features all the four of the famous spin-quartet. Playing for Karnataka, Chandrasekhar got the better of batsmen 437 times in Ranji Trophy.

Within a year of making his first-class debut in the 1963/64 season, the leggie was picked for the national team. He bagged 242 wickets in 58 test matches for India and has over 1000 first-class wickets to his name.

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#4 Narendra Hirwani

Narendra Hirwani

Playing for Madhya Pradesh for the majority of his 23-year-long First Class career, Hirwani has 441 scalps to his name in the Ranji Trophy. Courtesy his impressive performances in the domestic set-up, Hirwani was chosen to play for India as well.

He announced himself to the world in style by picking up 16 wickets against West Indies on his test debut but couldn't replicate the magic when touring other countries. He played 17 tests and 18 ODIs for India.

#3 Sunil Joshi

Sunil Joshi

Playing for Karnataka all his career, Sunil Joshi managed 479 wickets in the Ranji Trophy over a span of almost 20 years. The left-arm bowler was once a regular for the Indian ODI team and played 15 test matches for the country as well.

Not just that, the left-hander also played in the Indian Premier League for Royal Challengers Bangalore but couldn't impress much.

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#2 Srinivas Venkataraghavan

Srinivas Venkataraghavan

Venkataraghavan completes the spin quartet in this list of top Ranji wicket-takers and occupies the second position. In 96 appearances, the off-spinner has 530 Ranji wickets to his name.

Not only that, the Tamil Nadu bowler has 156 wickets in 57 test matches for India. As far as first-class matches are concerned, Venkataraghavan bagged 1390 wickets in 341 matches.

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#1 Rajinder Goel

Rajinder Goel

Haryana's Rajinder Goel takes the top spot in Ranji's top wicket-taker list with 637 wickets. In a first-class career spanning from 1958/59 to 1984/85, Goel picked up 750 wickets.

Unfortunately, however, Goel is one of those unlucky players, who, despite giving their all in the domestic circuit, couldn't play for their national team. The left-arm spinner has over 50 fifer in an innings in the Ranji Trophy.