The calendar of the year 2026 in international cricket is moving towards its final stage, but the bowling figures so far in the 50-over ODI format have proved to be very shocking. When the list of bowlers taking the most wickets in the year 2026 was reviewed just before the much-awaited three-match ODI series between India and West Indies starting from September 27, not a single Indian bowler has managed to make it to the top-20. Indian cricket team's star fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah is not a part of the upcoming Caribbean series due to being busy with national duty in the Asian Games, due to which the bowling attack of Team India is going to depend on relatively young shoulders. Mohammed Siraj will lead the Indian fast bowling attack in the first ODI to be played at the Greenfield International Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram, while along with him, young fast bowlers like Prasidh Krishna, Gurnoor Brar and Aaqib Nabi will get a golden opportunity to show their edge. However, in the current year, the ODI performance graph of Indian bowlers has been very low at the global level, the main reason for which is believed to be the priority given by the Indian team to Test and T20 formats in this calendar year and playing selected ODI matches. Bangladesh's Nahid Rana became the number-1 ODI bowler of the year, took 5 wickets thrice. The crown of taking the most wickets in the 50-over international format in the year 2026 is currently placed on the head of Bangladesh's young sensational fast bowler Nahid Rana. Nahid Rana, who started his international ODI career in the year 2024, has troubled batsmen around the world with his lethal pace, bounce and accurate line-length. In this calendar year, Nahid Rana has played a total of 10 ODI matches so far and in these matches, he has performed incredibly and has taken the maximum of 27 wickets in his name. The biggest aspect of this sensational success of Nahid Rana has been that he has achieved 'Five Wicket Hall' (the feat of taking 5 wickets in an innings) 3 times this year, which in itself is considered a big world record. His ability to achieve reverse swing in the middle overs and bowl yorkers in the death overs has made him extremely successful on Asian pitches as well as overseas, making him the most successful ODI bowler of 2026. Nepal's Sandeep Lamichhane dominates in the top-5, Australia's Nathan Ellis also made a jump. Nepal's magical leg spinner Sandeep Lamichhane is at second place in the global list of bowlers taking the most wickets in 2026. Lamichhane has spread the magic of his spin and taken 23 important wickets in a total of 13 ODI matches this year. Lamichhane's tight bowling has been the reason for many memorable victories of Nepal in the Associate Nations and ICC ODI League matches. At the same time, New Zealand's rising left-arm spinner Jaden Lennox is in third place, who has shown the way to the pavilion to 22 batsmen in 10 ODI matches in this calendar year. The name of Australian fast bowler Nathan Ellis comes at the fourth position. In the first match of the ongoing ODI series against South Africa, Ellis has completed his 20 ODI wickets in the year 2026 by taking 2 important wickets. Ellis has taken only 9 matches to reach this milestone. The fifth position in this exclusive list of top-5 is of Bangladesh's experienced fast bowler Taskin Ahmed, who has taken 20 wickets in 11 matches. In this way, two bowlers from Bangladesh are included in the top-5 list and are giving a feel of the growing bowling strength of their team. Who is the bowler who took the most wickets for India? Prasidh Krishna is at number 21. If this list is analyzed from the point of view of the Indian team, then the statistics clearly show that in 2026, Indian bowlers have been seen struggling at the top level. The bowler who took the most ODI wickets for India this year is Karnataka's fast bowler Prasidh Krishna, but he could not even register his name in the top-20 of the overall international table. Prasidh Krishna is currently ranked 21st in the global list with 13 wickets, for which he has bowled in 7 ODI matches. The second most successful Indian bowler after Prasidh Krishna is Punjab's young fast bowler Gurnoor Brar, who has taken a total of 11 wickets in his kitty while participating in 6 ODI matches this year. The matter of relief is that both Prasidh Krishna and Gurnoor Brar are part of the national team for the India vs West Indies ODI series starting from September 27. In the upcoming matches to be held in Thiruvananthapuram, Cuttack and Ahmedabad, both these bowlers will have a great opportunity to increase their wicket count by bowling brilliantly and quickly jump into the list of top-10 bowlers.
