Bowlers with Most Maiden Overs in ODI Cricket History

A one-day international is a form of limited-overs cricket, played between two teams, in which each teams face a fixed number of overs, currently 50. In ODI cricket, each team’s bowlers can bowl up to 10 overs in an innings. Maiden overs are very worthy for a team in white ball cricket. A maiden over can even put a lot of pressure on the batting side. It may even result in reckless shots by batter which in turn can bring a wicket. In this article, we will see certain players who bowled the most maiden overs in one-day international history.

Note: Champion Peoples is not affiliated with any of the boowlers listed below

Shaun Pollock (South Africa) – 313 Maiden Overs

The former South Africa skipper has bowled the most maiden overs in ODI cricket. The second generation cricketer after Graeme and Peter Pollock, Shaun was a decent bowling all-rounder. He bowled with a new ball and bowled as many as 313 maiden overs.

Talking about his ODI career, he has played 303 games and has 393 wickets to his name. The right-hander also has 3519 runs to his name including a century and 14 fifties.

Glenn McGrath (Australia) – 279 Maiden Overs

The fiery paceman from down under follows Shaun as the 2nd bowler with most maiden overs in ODI cricket. With an outstanding average of 22 and economy of 3.88 with the ball in ODI, Glenn is one of the greatest of all time and the number of maiden overs is just a part and parcel of it.

Chaminda Vaas (Sri Lanka) – 279 Maiden Overs

Chaminda Vaas has been undoubtedly been the best pace bowler Sri Lanka has ever produced. He bowled 279 maiden overs in 322 ODIs. He also has 400 ODI wickets at an average of 27.53. He was the fourth bowler in the world to get the 400 ODI wickets mark.

Wasim Akram (Pakistan) – 237 Maiden Overs

rong>237 maiden overs in 356 ODIs. Overall, he claimed 502 ODI wickets at a 23.52 average, a 3.89 economy rate and a 36.2 strike rate with 6 five-fors. His best ODI figures are 5/15.

Akram was also handy with the bat and clobbered 3,717 runs in ODIs at an 88.33 strike rate with 6 fifties. In Tests, Akram took 414 wickets with 25 five-fors and 5 10-wicket game hauls. These achievements mean Akram could well be the best left-arm fast bowler in the history of cricket.

Kapil Dev (India) – 235 Maiden Overs

The Indian World Cup winning captain has the 5th most maiden overs in ODI cricket with 235 maiden overs. Other than being an inspiring captain, with an exemplary economy of 3.72 and a very good average of 27.45, Kapil was an asset for India in the ODI bowling department.

Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka) – 198 Maiden Overs

Muttiah Muralitharan is one of the best spinners in the game’s history. He was a legend of the Sri Lankan team and currently coaching the IPL team Sunrises Hyderabad. Muralitharan bowled 198 maiden overs in 350 ODI games. He also got 534 ODI wickets with an average of 23.08.

Curtly Ambrose (West Indies) – 192 Maiden Overs

Ambrose was arguably the best bowler of his generation who troubled the batsmen with his tall arm bowling action and his ODI bowling average of only 24.13 and 3.48 economy speaks volumes of it. Bagging 192 maiden overs, he has the 8th most maiden overs in ODI.