Top 10 spinners of all time in Test cricket

Spin bowling is, without doubt, one of the craftiest and most difficult aspects of the game of cricket. A spin bowler has to rely on turn, flight, bounce and dip in order to get the better of high quality batsmen. Considering the difficulty involved in mastering the art, it is no surprise that most spin bowlers are at their best when they are in their early 30s.There have been a number of world-class spinners to have played Test cricket over its 137-year-old history; therefore, to pick just ten from a vast range of choices is extremely difficult. Nonetheless, here are my top ten spinners of all-time:

#10 Saqlain Mushtaq

Saqlain Mushtaq had a critical role to play in reviving the art of off-spin bowling. With flat pitches and bigger bats engulfing the game, off-spin was under severe threat of being marginalized in the late 1990s. But Mushtaq ensured that wasn’t the case by being the first bowler to introduce the doosra to international cricket.

While his early years as an international cricketer were tremendous, befuddling one and all with his doosra, he did taper off with time as batsmen started getting used to his variations. He finished his Test career with 208 wickets from 49 Tests, having played his last Test at the age of 28.