Most economical four-wicket hauls for India in ODIs

Bowling in ODI cricket is one of the toughest tasks ever as a bowler has to take wickets while also keeping a check on the run flow. Powerplays, free hits and shorter boundaries are also there to further exacerbate things. However, there have been some occasions where bowlers managed to pass through all the hurdles and ended up picking wickets for their teams and stopping the run flow completely. On that note, let’s take a look at the top three bowlers with the most economical four-wicket hauls for India:

3. Anil Kumble, 4/12 (7 overs) vs Pakistan, 3rd ODI Toronto, September 18, 1996

Defending a small target of 191, Kumble rose to the occasion for his team as he bowled a brilliant spell of 4/12 in seven overs. The legendary wrist spinner got the wickets of Saeed Anwar, Saleem Malik, Azhar Mahmood and Wasim Akram to bundle out Pakistan for just 136 and set up a 55-run win for India.

2. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 4/8 (6 overs) vs Sri Lanka, Match 6, Port of Spain, Tri Series

India were 119/3 in 29 overs when rain interrupted the game reducing it to a 26-over-per-side match. Sri Lanka were set a DLS revised target of 178 from 26 overs to knock India out of the tri-series. However, Bhuvneshwar Kumar had other ideas and broke the back of Sri Lankan batting with his magnificent new ball spell reducing them to 31/4 in 8.3 overs. As a result, Sri Lanka were bundled out for just 96 and Bhuvneshwar was awarded Player of the Match for setting up an 81-run victory for India.

1. Yuvraj Singh (4/6 vs Namibia 2003), Virender Sehwag (4/6 vs Bangladesh 2010), Kuldeep Yadav (4/6 vs West Indies, 2023)

The top spot is taken by three players namely Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag and Kuldeep Yadav. Yuvraj picked up 4/6 vs Namibia during the 2003 World Cup game while Sehwag picked 4/6 vs Bangladesh during the 2010 Asia Cup. On the other hand, Kuldeep Yadav recently became the third bowler to pick up identical figures of 4/6 vs West Indies during the first ODI