Kagiso Rabada Breaks Waqar Younis' Record by Reaching 300 Test Wickets in Record Time

South African fast-bowling sensation Kagiso Rabada showcased his brilliance on the opening day of the first Test match against Bangladesh, claiming 3 vital wickets as the Proteas bowled out their opponents for just 106 runs in Mirpur.

In doing so, Rabada became the most recent inductee of the 300-wicket club, the sixth South African to cross that mark and joining countrymen Dale Steyn, Shaun Pollock, Makhaya Ntini, Allan Donald, and Morne Morkel. He is now one of six active bowlers to join the 300-wicket club, with Ravindra Jadeja recently having reached that milestone as well.

Rabada also set a record in Mirpur by bringing up this landmark. Impressively, of the 39 bowlers to have reached the 300-wicket mark, Kagiso Rabada is the one to have required the fewest amount of deliveries to take those many wickets.

A bowler with one of the best strike-rates in the history of Test cricket, Rabada only took 11817 deliveries to reach the mark. This sees him overtake Waqar Younis as the fastest player to reach that mark in terms of balls bowled.

Kagiso Rabada: 11817

Waqar Younis: 12602

Dale Steyn: 12605

Allan Donald: 13672

Rabada was already the second fastest bowler to 250 wickets behind his compatriot and former teammate Dale Steyn, and has now overtaken Steyn to the 300 wicket mark. Rabada remains the only bowler to have played at least 50 Test matches with a strike rate of below 40, and also possesses the best strike-rate of any bowler with 300 wickets.

Although Rabada achieved this record, the fastest player to 300 wickets in terms of matches played remains Ravinchandran Ashwin, who achieved the feat in 54 games. Rabada is currently playing his 65th match in Test cricket.

Rabada brought up his 300th wicket by bowling Mushfiqur Rahim, and tacked on to his tally with the dismissals of Litton Das and Nayeem Hasan. Rabada now sits on 302 wickets, right behind current Indian bowling coach Morne Morkel, who took 309 wickets in his career. Bangladesh were folded cheaply in their first innings, with Wiaan Mulder and Keshav Maharaj also contributing with three wickets each.