Most Test wickets taken by a left-arm bowler

Left-arm spinner Rangana Herath (Sri Lanka) took 433 wickets in 170 Test innings (93 matches) between 24 September 1999 and 8 November 2018. Highlights of his Test career include a haul of 9 for 127 – the best figures ever recorded by a left-armer in a Test match innings – against Pakistan at Colombo’s Sinhalese Sports Club Ground on 15-16 August 2014.

Wasim Akram (Pakistan) previously held this left-handers record with 414 wickets in 181 innings (104 matches) between 1985 and 2002. New Zealand’s Daniel Vettori is next, with 362 wickets in 187 innings (113 matches) between 1997 and 2014.

Herath took four wickets against Australia on his Test debut, at Galle International Stadium. The Sri Lankan team on that occasion included greats such as Sanath Jayasuriya, Mahela Jayawardene, Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan. Herath’s 100th wicket in Galle came in his final match, against England. He’s only the third player – after Muralitharan (achieved three times in Sri Lanka) and England’s James Anderson (103 wickets at Lord’s as of 8 November 2018) – to take 100 wickets at a single Test venue, finishing on 102 wickets at the picturesque, city-centre ground in Galle.

Herath’s 9 for 127 against Pakistan was almost matched by left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj (South Africa), who took 9 for 129 – finishing with the wicket of Herath – against Sri Lanka in Colombo on 21-22 July 2018.

- Most Test wickets (as of 8 November 2018): Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka, 800); Shane Warne (Australia, 708); Anil Kumble (India, 619); James Anderson (England, 565); Glenn McGrath (Australia, 563); Courtney Walsh (West Indies, 519); Kapil Dev (India, 434); Stuart Broad (England, 433); Rangana Herath (Sri Lanka, 433).