New Delhi [India], June 27 : South Africa's Dale Steyn, perhaps the greatest and most lethal pacer of the modern era, turned 40 on Tuesday.
Born in 1983 and having made his international debut in 2004 at the age of 21, 'Steyn Gun', as he is known among the fans for his accuracy, pin-pointed yorkers and speed, Steyn dominated the next decade of pace bowling in international cricket.
Steyn played 93 Tests for South Africa, in which he took 439 wickets at an average of 22.95 and an economy rate of 3.24. His best bowling figures in Tests is 7/51. He has taken 27 four-wicket hauls, 26 five-wicket hauls and five ten-wicket hauls in the longer format.
He is also the third fastest to get to 250, 350 and 400 Test wickets.
Steyn had the stronghold of the number one spot in the ICC Test rankings during his prime years, for a record 263 weeks between 2008 and 2014.
He is the 10th highest wicket-taker in Test cricket, with the highest wicket-taker being Sri Lanka's Mutthiah Muralidaran with 800 wickets. He is also the highest wicket-taker for South Africa in Tests, only rivalled by Shaun Pollock with 421 wickets.
Steyn has represented Proteas in 125 ODIs, in which he has taken 196 wickets at an average of 25.95 and an economy rate of 4.87. His best bowling figures in ODIs is 6/39. He has taken four four-wicket hauls and three five-wicket hauls in ODI cricket. He is the fifth-highest wicket-taker in ODIs for South Africa, with the top bowler being Shaun Pollock with 387 wickets.
He has also played 47 T20Is for Proteas. In these, he has taken 64 wickets at an average of 18.35 and an economy rate of 6.94. He has best bowling figures of 4/9 in the format. He has a total of two four-wicket hauls in T20Is. Behind Tabraiz Shamsi (74 wickets), Steyn is the second-highest wicket-taker for South Africa in T20Is.
Overall in 265 matches, he has taken 699 wickets at an average of 23.37 and an economy rate of 3.78, with best figures of 7/51. He has taken a total of 29 five-wicket hauls and five ten-wicket hauls in international cricket. Behind Pollock (823 wickets), he is the second-highest wicket-taker for South Africa in international cricket.
Overall, Steyn is the 16th most successful bowler in international cricket, with the most successful bowler being SL's Muralidaran with 1,347 scalps.
He was given the 'ICC Test Player of the Year' honour in 2008. The same year, he was given the 'South African Cricketer of the Year' award. Steyn won the Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World honour in 2013 and got the Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 2014.
One of the biggest misfortunes of Steyn's career though was playing in South Africa's golden era alongside legends like Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers, Graeme Smith, Herschelle Gibbs, Hashim Amla, Makhaya Ntini, Morne Morkel etc, but never getting to win a 50-over or 20-over World Cup or a Champions Trophy title.
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