Kagiso Rabada became the 39th bowler in the history of Test cricket to reach the milestone of 300 wickets. Where does he rank among them in terms of how quickly he achieved it?
Bowling on the first morning of the Dhaka Test against Bangladesh, Rabada knocked over Mushfiqur Rahim's stumps to claim his 300th Test wicket. He became the sixth South African to do so, after Dale Steyn (439 Test wickets), Shaun Pollock (421), Makhaya Ntini (390), Alan Donald (330), and Morne Morkel (309).
Also read: Explained: Why South Africa captain Temba Bavuma is not playing the first Test against Bangladesh
Quickest to 300 Test wickets
The ongoing Bangladesh-South Africa Test is Rabada's 65th, which makes him the joint 10th fastest to 300 Test wickets. Among fast bowlers, he is joint seventh along with Waqar Younis and Fred Trueman, both of whom reached the landmark in their 65th Tests.
The quickest to 300 Test wickets is India's R Ashwin, who reached the landmark in just 54 Tests. Dennis Lillee, second on the list, is the quickest fast bowler to do so. Two out of the five other South Africans who have more than 300 Test wickets reached there before Rabada: Steyn took 61 Tests while Donald took 63.
| Player | Team | Opposition | Ground | Matches |
| R Ashwin | India | v Sri Lanka | Nagpur | 54 |
| Dennis Lillee | Australia | v Pakistan | Brisbane | 56 |
| Muttiah Muralidaran | Sri Lanka | v South Africa | Durban | 58 |
| Richard Hadlee | New Zealand | v Australia | Wellington | 61 |
| Malcolm Marshall | West Indies | v Australia | Melbourne | 61 |
| Dale Steyn | South Africa | v New Zealand | Cape Town | 61 |
| Shane Warne | Australia | v South Africa | Sydney | 63 |
| Alan Donald | South Africa | v New Zealand | Bloemfontein | 63 |
| Glenn McGrath | Australia | v West Indies | Perth | 64 |
| Kagiso Rabada | South Africa | v Bangladesh | Dhaka | 65 |
| Fred Trueman | England | v Australia | The Oval | 65 |
| Waqar Younis | Pakistan | v Sri Lanka | Colombo (SSC) | 65 |
| Anil Kumble | India | v England | Bengaluru | 66 |
| Imran Khan | Pakistan | v England | Leeds | 68 |
| Mitchell Johnson | Australia | v England | Birmingham | 69 |
| Rangana Herath | Sri Lanka | v England | Chester-le-Street | 69 |
| Wasim Akram | Pakistan | v England | The Oval | 70 |
Rabada is, however, the quickest to 300 Test wickets in terms of balls bowled, doing so with his 11,818th delivery in Test cricket. That should be no surprise, though, given he is the only bowler among the 39 who have taken 300-plus Test wickets to have a bowling strike rate under 40. His compatriot Steyn is second with a strike rate of 42.3, with Waqar Younis third at 43.4.
Best bowling strike rate in Tests (minimum 300 wickets)
| Player | Mat | Wkts | Ave | Econ | SR | 5-fors | 10-fors |
| Kagiso Rabada | 65 | 302 | 21.95 | 3.35 | 39.2 | 14 | 4 |
| Dale Steyn | 93 | 439 | 22.95 | 3.24 | 42.3 | 26 | 5 |
| Waqar Younis | 87 | 373 | 23.56 | 3.25 | 43.4 | 22 | 5 |
| Malcolm Marshall | 81 | 376 | 20.94 | 2.68 | 46.7 | 22 | 4 |
| Alan Donald | 72 | 330 | 22.25 | 2.83 | 47 | 20 | 3 |
| Mitchell Starc | 89 | 358 | 27.74 | 3.42 | 48.6 | 14 | 2 |
| Fred Trueman | 67 | 307 | 21.57 | 2.61 | 49.4 | 17 | 3 |
| R Ashwin | 103 | 528 | 23.8 | 2.82 | 50.4 | 37 | 8 |
| Richard Hadlee | 86 | 431 | 22.29 | 2.63 | 50.8 | 36 | 9 |
| Mitchell Johnson | 73 | 313 | 28.4 | 3.33 | 51.1 | 12 | 3 |
*All stats accurate till Bangladesh's first innings in Dhaka
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