Top 5 bowlers with most ODI wickets in 2019
As this year comes to an end, we have had several spectacular performances in Men's ODI cricket to look back at. England finished on top of the team rankings (World Cup winners), followed by India and New Zealand, respectively.
While there were numerous batting records broken this year, bowling performances made the game even more eventful as well. This article looks at the bowlers with the most number of wickets in the format in 2019. The biggest talking point about the top 10 is the presence of eight fast bowlers, with only two spinners.
Rounding out the top 10 are:
#6 Kuldeep Yadav (India) - 32 wickets
#7 Pat Cummins (Australia) - 31 wickets
#8 Sheldon Cottrell (West Indies) - 31 wickets
#9 Yuzuvendra Chahal (India) - 29 wickets
#10 Chris Woakes (England) - 29 wickets
#5 Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Country - India
Matches - 19
Wickets - 33
Economy Rate - 5.23
Average - 23.75
Best Bowling Figures - 4/31
Also see - Ranji schedule
Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the most consistent of the Indian bowling line-up ended up as the 5th highest wicket-taker of 2019 with 33 wickets in his bag. He has been a regular in the Indian squad but has suffered from various injuries this year. Despite that, Kumar delivered for the team with several match-winning performances with one of the most economical figures. He has been MS Dhoni's and Virat Kohli's first choice with the new ball and his skill of swinging the ball both ways allows him to deceive batsmen, making him a go-to option at the start of the innings.
Bhuvi is expected to continue with that role for the team in the coming decade as well if he remains fit. The Indian pace-attack has been one of the most fierce attacks of the season and the trio of Bhuvi-Bhumrah-Shami have delivered some outstanding spells. His figures of 33 wickets from 19 matches is by far the best performance by Kumar in his seven-year career. He has continued his stellar performance in T20I.