Some cricket records are easy to predict. The fastest bowler. The biggest hitter. The most sixes.
But the bowlers with most wickets in Abu Dhabi T10 League history? That list is more interesting than you’d expect.
T10 cricket is designed for batters. Short format, small ground, no time for a bowler to settle.
Yet certain players have returned to the Abu Dhabi T10 season after season and kept stacking wickets.
The Abu Dhabi T10 League launched in December 2017 under the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB).
Eight franchise teams compete in each edition.
The league has now run for multiple seasons, and the all-time bowling records are starting to tell a real story.
Bowlers with Most Wickets in Abu Dhabi T10 League History
Here is the full list, current to November 2025.
The Complete Wicket Table: Abu Dhabi T10 League History
| Pos | Player | Country | Span | Mat | Inn | Overs | Runs | Wkts | BBI | Ave | Econ | SR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dwayne Bravo | West Indies | 2017–2023 | 55 | 50 | 94.1 | 1067 | 39 | 4/16 | 27.35 | 11.33 | 14.48 |
| 2 | Naveen-ul-Haq | Afghanistan | 2021–2024 | 35 | 35 | 70.0 | 707 | 35 | 3/7 | 20.20 | 10.10 | 12.00 |
| 3 | Qais Ahmad | Afghanistan | 2018–2024 | 39 | 36 | 61.5 | 609 | 34 | 3/8 | 17.91 | 9.84 | 10.91 |
| 4 | Andre Russell | West Indies | 2018–2023 | 45 | 36 | 60.0 | 685 | 32 | 3/17 | 21.40 | 11.41 | 11.25 |
| 5 | Fazalhaq Farooqi | Afghanistan | 2021–2024 | 35 | 35 | 68.0 | 585 | 31 | 3/5 | 18.87 | 8.60 | 13.16 |
| 6 | Wahab Riaz | Pakistan | 2017–2022 | 39 | 39 | 74.4 | 729 | 31 | 3/4 | 23.51 | 9.76 | 14.45 |
| 7 | Tymal Mills | England | 2018–2024 | 26 | 25 | 43.2 | 403 | 30 | 3/9 | 13.43 | 9.30 | 8.66 |
| 8 | Karim Janat | Afghanistan | 2018–2024 | 44 | 37 | 63.3 | 635 | 29 | 3/9 | 21.89 | 10.00 | 13.13 |
| 9 | Rayad Emrit | West Indies | 2017–2022 | 33 | 33 | 62.2 | 732 | 28 | 2/16 | 26.14 | 11.74 | 13.35 |
Last updated: November 1, 2025.
The Record Holder: Dwayne Bravo
Dwayne Bravo is the leading wicket-taker in Abu Dhabi T10 League history.
He took 39 wickets across 55 matches between 2017 and 2023. His best bowling figures in a single innings were 4/16.
No bowler in T10 history at the Abu Dhabi league has yet gone past 39.
Bravo got there by staying in the competition longer than anyone else, adapting his game across six seasons, and using one of the best slower-ball repertoires in franchise cricket.
His economy of 11.33 is not the lowest in the top nine.
But wicket-taking at this level of T10, over this many matches, puts him in a class of his own.
Profiles of Every Bowler in the Top Nine
Naveen-ul-Haq — 35 Wickets
The Afghan pacer took 35 wickets in exactly 35 matches from 2021 to 2024.
A 100 per cent appearance-to-wicket conversion across his T10 career so far. Economy: 10.10. Best figures: 3/7.
Naveen’s strength is consistency. He rarely gives free runs and forces batters to take risks to score off him.
Qais Ahmad — 34 Wickets
Qais Ahmad is the standout case on this list. A leg-spinner with 34 wickets, an average of 17.91, and an economy of 9.84 in T10 cricket. These numbers are exceptional for a slow bowler in this format.
He has played for four different franchises since 2018, which tells you how sought-after he is at each T10 draft.
His googly is his best delivery. It deceives batters expecting the standard leg-break and is nearly impossible to read from the hand.
Andre Russell — 32 Wickets
Andre Russell took 32 wickets from 45 matches across five seasons. Best figures: 3/17.
Russell is the double threat on this list. His batting gets the headlines, but his medium-pace deliveries in the death overs — particularly the yorker — have made him a regular wicket-taker too.
Fazalhaq Farooqi — 31 Wickets
The numbers Farooqi has put up since joining the league in 2021 are hard to ignore.
31 wickets from 35 matches, with an economy of 8.60 — the best in the entire top nine — and best figures of 3/5.
Left-arm swing at genuine pace is difficult for T10 batters, especially early in an innings when they haven’t yet timed the ball well.
Farooqi exploits that window better than almost anyone in this format.
Wahab Riaz — 31 Wickets
Wahab Riaz matches Farooqi’s wicket count at 31, but across more matches and seasons (2017 to 2022).
His best figures were 3/4 — one of the most dominant short-spell returns in the league’s history. Economy: 9.76.
Wahab was part of the league’s founding generation.
His aggressive left-arm pace helped establish the T10 format as genuinely competitive, not just an entertainment sideshow.
Tymal Mills — 30 Wickets
If you judge bowlers by how often they take wickets per ball bowled, Tymal Mills is the most efficient on this list.
His strike rate of 8.66 is the best here. He took 30 wickets from just 26 matches.
Economy: 9.30, second only to Farooqi.
Mills is a specialist death bowler who has refined the slower bouncer and the back-of-a-length yorker into reliable wicket-taking tools.
Karim Janat — 29 Wickets
Karim Janat has 29 wickets from 44 matches across four franchises.
He has been one of the most frequently selected Afghan players in the league’s history.
Best figures: 3/9. Economy: 10.00. He does not blow batters away, but he builds pressure and forces mistakes.
Rayad Emrit — 28 Wickets
Rayad Emrit rounds out the top nine with 28 wickets from 33 matches. Economy: 11.74 — the highest in the group — but he was a reliable squad option in the league’s early years (2017 to 2022).
How Afghanistan Took Over the Bowling Rankings?
Four of the nine bowlers on this list are Afghan: Naveen-ul-Haq, Qais Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi, and Karim Janat.
Together they account for 129 wickets — nearly a third of the combined total across all nine.
Afghanistan has been producing T10-ready bowlers at a pace. Their spinners have variety.
Their seamers have swing. And they play enough franchise cricket globally that they arrive at the Abu Dhabi T10 in form and match-fit.
West Indies (Bravo, Russell, Emrit) has three representatives. Pakistan and England are one each.
FAQs
- Q: Who has the most wickets in Abu Dhabi T10 League history?
Dwayne Bravo of the West Indies holds the record with 39 wickets from 55 matches, spanning 2017 to 2023.
- Q: Which bowler has the best economy rate among the top wicket-takers?
Fazalhaq Farooqi has the best economy rate at 8.60, edging out Tymal Mills (9.30) and Qais Ahmad (9.84).
- Q: How many Afghan bowlers are in the all-time top nine?
Four Afghan bowlers feature: Naveen-ul-Haq (35 wickets), Qais Ahmad (34), Fazalhaq Farooqi (31), and Karim Janat (29).
- Q: What are Dwayne Bravo’s best bowling figures in the Abu Dhabi T10 League?
Bravo’s best figures are 4/16 in a single innings. He is the only bowler on the all-time list with a four-wicket haul.
- Q: Who has the best bowling strike rate in the top wicket-takers list?
Tymal Mills has the best strike rate at 8.66, meaning he took a wicket every 8 to 9 balls across his 26 matches in the league.
- Q: When did the Abu Dhabi T10 League begin?
The first edition was held in December 2017. It is organised by the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) and features eight franchise teams.
Conclusion:
Dwayne Bravo’s 39 wickets are the benchmark in Abu Dhabi T10 League history.
He set the record across six seasons, and no one has matched it yet.
But the gap between Bravo and the chasing pack — Naveen, Qais, Russell — is closing with every edition.
Among active players in the top nine, Farooqi’s economy and Mills’ strike rate are the numbers worth watching.
If either continues in the league for another two or three seasons, the wicket record could be under real pressure.
Also Check: