Most Wickets in CPL History: All-Time Leading Wicket-Takers List (Updated 2026)
Most Wickets in CPL History: All-Time Leading Wicket-Takers List (Updated 2026)
Sunil Narine is the all-time leading wicket-taker in Caribbean Premier League history. The Trinidadian spinner passed Dwayne Bravo’s long-standing record in September 2025 and has taken roughly 130 CPL wickets across 120-plus matches for Guyana Amazon Warriors and Trinbago Knight Riders, at an economy rate of 5.4 — the best of any bowler with 50-plus CPL wickets. Bravo (129) sits second, with Imran Tahir third after a prolific CPL 2025 season.
Last updated: July 2026 — figures current through the end of CPL 2025, the most recently completed season. CPL 2026 begins August 7, 2026.
Quick Facts
| All-time leading wicket-taker | Sunil Narine |
| Approximate career CPL wickets | ~130 |
| Nearest rival | Dwayne Bravo (129, retired) |
| Best bowling figures (CPL history) | 6/6, Shakib Al Hasan |
| Most wickets in a single season | 28, Dwayne Bravo (CPL 2015) |
| Best economy among 50+ wicket bowlers | Sunil Narine (~5.4) |
| Only bowler with a Super Over maiden | Sunil Narine |
| First bowler to reach 100 CPL wickets | Dwayne Bravo |
| CPL 2025 leading wicket-taker | Imran Tahir (23 wickets) |
| Teams in CPL 2026 | 7 (Jamaica Kingsmen join as a new franchise) |
| CPL 2026 start date | August 7, 2026 |
Top 10 All-Time CPL Wicket-Takers
Numbers below combine the most recent tournament-record data with post-CPL 2025 updates confirmed in match reports. Exact tallies can shift by a wicket or two between aggregators depending on when a snapshot was taken, so treat the order — not the last digit — as the headline takeaway.
| Rank | Bowler | Wickets | Matches | Economy | Average | Best Figures | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sunil Narine | ~130 | 122 | 5.44 | 19.87 | 3/6 | Active, TKR |
| 2 | Dwayne Bravo | 129 | 107 | 8.74 | 23.02 | 5/23 | Retired (CPL coach, TKR) |
| 3 | Imran Tahir | ~121 | 85 | 6.62 | 17.56 | 5/21 | Active, Amazon Warriors |
| 4 | Jason Holder | ~105 | 114 | 7.79 | 27.42 | 4/14 | Active, St Kitts & Nevis Patriots |
| 5 | Rayad Emrit | 96 | 85 | 7.64 | 22.75 | 4/35 | Retired since 2020 |
| 6 | Sheldon Cottrell | 87 | 76 | 7.71 | 22.85 | 4/20 | Largely retired from CPL |
| 7 | Krishmar Santokie | 85 | 58 | 7.59 | 19.90 | 4/11 | Retired since 2019 |
| 8 | Kesrick Williams | 83 | 68 | 8.67 | 22.39 | 4/24 | Not featured recently |
| 9 | Ravi Rampaul | 78 | 57 | 8.27 | 20.85 | 4/15 | Retired from CPL |
| 10 | Wayne Parnell / Fidel Edwards tier | 60–70 | — | — | — | — | Several bowlers cluster here |
Player Profiles: The Leading Wicket-Takers
1. Sunil Narine — The New King of CPL Wickets
Narine’s rise to the top is the defining CPL storyline of the past two years. He passed Bravo’s record during the CPL 2025 Eliminator at Providence Stadium, Guyana, dismissing Antigua and Barbuda Falcons captain Imad Wasim for his milestone scalp. What makes the number more remarkable is the manner: Narine has built his tally as the most economical bowler in tournament history among anyone with 50-plus wickets, conceding under 5.5 runs an over across a decade-plus career. He debuted with Guyana Amazon Warriors before becoming the defining bowler of Trinbago Knight Riders’ dynasty, and he remains contracted to TKR for CPL 2026 as a retained “right-to-match” pick.
His signature trait — bowling maidens in a format built for boundaries — is unmatched. Narine is the only bowler to ever bowl a maiden over in a Super Over, doing so against a young Nicholas Pooran, a passage of play that CPL fans still bring up years later. Off the field, Narine’s 2025-26 season also confirmed him as one of only three bowlers in men’s T20 history to reach 600 wickets across all competitive T20 cricket, alongside Rashid Khan and Dwayne Bravo.
2. Dwayne Bravo — The Record He Held for a Decade
Before Narine overtook him, Bravo had been the CPL’s benchmark wicket-taker since the tournament’s early seasons — the first bowler to reach 100 CPL wickets. His method was almost the opposite of Narine’s: a high-economy, high-wicket death-overs specialist who relied on slower balls, wide yorkers, and match-reading rather than containment. Bravo’s 28 wickets in the 2015 season remain the single-season CPL record. He no longer plays but stays inside the sport as Trinbago Knight Riders’ coach, giving him a rare vantage point on the bowler who eventually passed him.
3. Imran Tahir — The Ageless Threat Still Climbing the List
Tahir is the most active challenger to the top two. He signed for Guyana Amazon Warriors in 2018 and has posted a CPL bowling average in the high teens ever since — the best of anyone with a significant sample size in tournament history. CPL 2025 was arguably his best individual season: Tahir finished as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with 23 scalps, including a five-wicket haul against Antigua and Barbuda Falcons that made him, at 46 years and 148 days, one of the oldest bowlers ever to take a T20 fifer. That single season pushed him firmly into the all-time top three and within realistic touching distance of Bravo and Narine if he returns for CPL 2026.
4. Jason Holder — Consistency Across a Decade-Plus
Holder has bowled in the CPL since 2013, first for Barbados Tridents/Royals (winning titles in 2014 and 2019 as captain) and, from 2025, for St Kitts and Nevis Patriots. His numbers are built on volume and control rather than a standout single season — a tall seamer who extracts bounce and rarely goes for more than 8 an over. His 2025 campaign (13 wickets at an average of 21.00) shows he remains a genuine wicket-taking option well into his thirties.
5. Rayad Emrit — The Journeyman’s Journeyman
Emrit’s 96 wickets, spread across three CPL franchises, were built entirely on accuracy rather than pace or mystery. He retired from the competition in 2020 but remains a top-five all-time name — proof that CPL’s wicket charts reward consistency as much as headline spells.
Bowling Records & Milestones
Best individual bowling figures in CPL history: Shakib Al Hasan’s 6/6 remains the only six-wicket haul the tournament has produced and the standout figure on every all-time list.
Most wickets in a single CPL season: Dwayne Bravo, 28 wickets in 2015 (13 matches).
Twice a season’s leading wicket-taker: Ravi Rampaul became only the second bowler after Bravo to finish top of a CPL season’s wicket charts more than once, doing so in 2021 and a prior campaign.
Five-wicket hauls: A small group of bowlers — including David Wiese, Fidel Edwards, Sohail Tanvir and Shakib Al Hasan alongside Bravo and Tahir — have taken five or more wickets in a CPL innings; it remains a rare feat in a 10-over-a-side format that only recently moved to the standard 20-over game.
Best economy among high-volume bowlers: Narine’s sub-5.5 economy across 120-plus matches has no peer among bowlers with 50 or more CPL wickets; Imran Tahir and Imad Wasim are the closest challengers.
First bowler to 100 CPL wickets: Dwayne Bravo, a milestone he reached years before Narine or anyone else got close.
Season-by-Season Leading Wicket-Taker
| Season | Leading Wicket-Taker | Wickets |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Krishmar Santokie | 16 |
| 2015 | Dwayne Bravo | 28 |
| 2016 | Dwayne Bravo | — |
| 2021 | Ravi Rampaul | — |
| 2023 | Imran Tahir | 18 |
| 2023 | Dwaine Pretorius | 20 |
| 2025 | Imran Tahir | 23 |
Note: this table lists confirmed season-topping performances; several mid-2010s and pandemic-era seasons are omitted where a single verified leader could not be confirmed at the time of writing. Dwaine Pretorius’s 20-wicket haul is credited by some CPL statisticians as the outright 2023 leader; sourcing on this varies by outlet.
Most Wickets by Team
- Trinbago Knight Riders: Home to both Narine and (for most of his career) Bravo, making TKR statistically the most bowler-rich franchise in CPL history and the tournament’s most decorated side overall.
- Guyana Amazon Warriors: Narine’s original franchise and Imran Tahir’s current team; the Warriors have repeatedly reached CPL finals on the strength of frugal spin bowling but are still chasing their second title.
- Barbados Royals (formerly Tridents): Jason Holder’s long-time home and a two-time champion franchise built around disciplined seam bowling.
- St Kitts and Nevis Patriots: Sheldon Cottrell’s franchise for most of his career, and Holder’s team from 2025 onward.
CPL 2025 Recap: How the Race Shifted
CPL 2025 reshaped the all-time list more than any season in years. Trinbago Knight Riders beat Guyana Amazon Warriors in the final — the Warriors’ second consecutive runner-up finish and eighth final appearance without a second title. Individually, Shai Hope led the run charts with 491 runs, while Imran Tahir topped the wicket charts with 23 scalps, the platform that vaulted him into the all-time top three. It was also the season Narine’s wicket against Imad Wasim confirmed him as the outright CPL wicket-taking leader, ending Bravo’s decade-long hold on the record.
CPL 2026 Preview: Bowlers to Watch
CPL 2026 kicks off on August 7, 2026, with a notable structural change: Jamaica Kingsmen join as a new seventh franchise, absorbing much of the old Jamaica Tallawahs local player pool. Trinbago Knight Riders, the defending champions, have used right-to-match options to retain their core West Indian spine — Kieron Pollard, Nicholas Pooran, Sunil Narine, and Akeal Hosein all stay put, meaning the all-time leader continues chasing more wickets for the tournament’s most successful franchise. Andre Russell switches to Jamaica Kingsmen alongside fellow Jamaican Rovman Powell, who captains the new side. Guyana Amazon Warriors retained Shimron Hetmyer, Shai Hope, Romario Shepherd, and Shamar Joseph, and will lean on Imran Tahir again if he returns — a season anywhere near his 2025 form would put him in realistic range of second place on the all-time list.
Watch also for teenage left-arm wristspinner Vitel Lawes, signed by Jamaica Kingsmen after finishing as West Indies’ leading wicket-taker at the Under-19 World Cup — an early sign of the next generation of CPL bowling talent.
Statistical Trends: Spin vs Pace, Economy Over Time
Three patterns stand out across CPL’s all-time bowling charts that most single-list roundups don’t spell out:
Spin dominates the economy column, not just the wicket column. Narine, Tahir, and Imad Wasim — all specialist spinners — occupy the three best economy rates among bowlers with 50-plus wickets. In a Caribbean format built on short boundaries and heavy hitters, tight spin bowling has proven more durable than raw pace over a full CPL career.
Longevity beats peak form on the all-time list. None of the top five wicket-takers had, statistically, the single best CPL season on record — that belongs to Bravo’s 28-wicket 2015 campaign, but Bravo himself needed 107 matches across more than a decade to build his overall total. The all-time charts reward bowlers who stay fit and relevant into their late 30s and 40s (Tahir is the clearest example) more than one-off breakout years.
The identity of the record holder has flipped the tournament’s bowling archetype. For a decade, the CPL’s defining bowler was a death-overs pace-and-variation specialist (Bravo). The new benchmark is a powerplay-to-middle-overs containment spinner (Narine) — a shift that mirrors T20 cricket’s broader move toward valuing bowlers who control the middle overs as much as those who defend totals at the death.
FAQS
Who has taken the most wickets in CPL history?
Sunil Narine, with approximately 130 wickets, has overtaken Dwayne Bravo’s long-standing record in September 2025.
How many wickets does Dwayne Bravo have in the CPL?
129 wickets from 107 matches, a tally built between 2013 and 2024 before he retired from playing.
Who is the current CPL 2025 leading wicket-taker?
Imran Tahir, with 23 wickets for Guyana Amazon Warriors, including an age-defying five-wicket haul.
What is the best individual bowling figure in CPL history?
Shakib Al Hasan’s 6 wickets for 6 runs, the only six-wicket haul in tournament history.
Who has taken the most wickets in a single CPL season?
Dwayne Bravo, with 28 wickets in the 2015 season.
Is Sunil Narine still playing in the CPL?
Yes. He has been retained by Trinbago Knight Riders for CPL 2026 under a right-to-match option.
Which bowler has the best economy rate among the top CPL wicket-takers?
Sunil Narine, at roughly 5.4 runs per over — the best economy of any bowler with 50 or more CPL wickets.
Has any bowler taken 150 wickets in the CPL?
No. Narine’s roughly 130 wickets are the highest total reached so far; reaching 150 would require several more full seasons.
Who is third on the all-time CPL wicket-takers list?
Imran Tahir, whose prolific CPL 2025 season pushed his career tally into the all-time top three.
When does CPL 2026 start?
August 7, 2026, with a new seventh franchise, the Jamaica Kingsmen, joining the competition.
Which CPL franchise has produced the most successful bowlers historically?
Trinbago Knight Riders, statistically, given that both Narine (for most of his career) and Bravo built the bulk of their wicket tallies there.
Did Sunil Narine ever captain a CPL side?
He has served as a stand-in captain in other T20 franchise leagues (Major League Cricket), though his primary CPL role has been as TKR’s frontline spinner rather than full-time captain.
Who was the CPL’s first bowler to reach 100 wickets?
Dwayne Bravo.
How many five-wicket hauls has the CPL produced overall?
A small handful — including efforts from Shakib Al Hasan, David Wiese, Fidel Edwards, Sohail Tanvir, Dwayne Bravo, and Imran Tahir — reflects how rare the feat is in T20 cricket.
Is Jason Holder in the all-time top five CPL wicket-takers?
Yes, sitting around fourth on the current list with roughly 105 wickets across more than a decade in the competition.
