Dale Steyn of South Africa joins the 400-club

South African pacer Dale Steyn became the second bowler from his country after Shaun Pollock to take 400 Test wickets when he dismissed Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal early in the first session of the 2 nd Test at Mirpur today.

Steyn is joint second-fastest in terms of Test matches (80), alongside Richard Hadlee and behind Muttiah Muralitharan, to the mark, and fastest in terms of balls.

It took Steyn 10 years and 255 days to become the 13th bowler in the history of cricket to achieve the milestone.

Having made his Test debut against England in a home series in 2004, Steyn has been one of the most destructive bowlers in the world ever since.

Steyn had taken three wickets in his first Test in Chittagong at the expense of 78 runs, after having missed out on the One-Day International (ODI) series.

Of all the bowlers to cross the 400-wicket mark, Dale Steyn’s strike-rate of 41.6 is the best.

His average of 22.54 is impressive too, ranks third behind Sir Richard Hadlee and Glenn McGrath.

In 80 Test matches in his career, Steyn has taken 5 wickets in an innings 25 times, and 10 on five occasions. His best bowling figures in an innings is 7 for 51 while 11 for 60 is his best return in a match.