Dale Steyn

In the 2020 IPL auction, he was bought by the Royal Challengers Bangalore ahead of the 2020 Indian Premier League.

On 5 August 2019, Steyn announced his retirement from Test cricket, to focus on limited-overs cricket.

In September 2019, he was named in the squad for the Cape Town Blitz team for the 2019 Mzansi Super League tournament. In October 2019, Steyn signed to play in the Big Bash for the Melbourne Stars. In December 2019, he was drafted by PSL franchise Islamabad United as their first pick of the draft in the Platinum Category.

In the first Test of the two match series against Bangladesh, at Dhaka, Steyn helped South Africa avoid an embarrassing defeat. Bangladesh were bowled out for 192 in their first innings, with Steyn claiming 3/27, but then South Africa collapsed to 170 all out, handing the hosts a shock 22 run lead. However Steyn(4/48) then combined with Jacques Kallis (5/30) to restrict Bangladesh to 182 all out and South Africa were able to complete a five wicket victory on the fourth day of the match. South Africa won the second Test at Chittagong comprehensively (by an innings and 205 runs) and Steyn returned figures of 4/66 and 3/35 giving him 14 wickets in the series at an average of 12.57 which won him his third consecutive Man-of-the-Series award. When Steyn dismissed Junaid Siddique in Bangladesh's first innings (his 20th match), he claimed the record for the fastest South African to reach 100 wickets in Tests, beating Hugh Tayfield's record of 21 matches. He holds the record amongst all players who are currently playing Test cricket.

In April 2019, he was named in South Africa's squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup. However, on 4 June 2019, Steyn was ruled out of the tournament due to an ongoing shoulder injury, and was replaced by Beuran Hendricks. In August 2019, Steyn retired from Test cricket.

On 14 July 2018, he equaled Shaun Pollock's record as the highest wicket-taker in South African test history. On 14 September, he was called back to the South African ODI squad after an absence of two years. On 3 October, he scored his maiden half-century in ODI cricket against Zimbabwe in a 120 run victory.

In December 2018, in the first session of the Boxing Day Test at SuperSport Park in Centurion, Steyn became South Africa's leading wicket-taker in Tests, taking his 422nd wicket, surpassing Shaun Pollock who had held the record for ten years.

Recovering from surgery, he missed the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy but was named in the South Africa A squad for their tour of England a few months later. However, he returned to competitive cricket in November 2017, a year after the injury, playing for the Titans at the Ram Slam T20 Challenge. After 14 months of injury, Steyn played his first international Test match against India and picked up a wicket in just 14 balls. However, on day two of the same Test, Steyn damaged his left heel. This ruled him out of the rest of the series, with a recovery time of 4 to 6 weeks. Two days later, he was ruled out of the rest of the series.

Steyn dominated the number one spot in the ICC Test rankings during the peak of his career, for a record 263 weeks between 2008 and 2014. Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan sits next on the list with 214 weeks. In terms of days, Steyn has spent 2,356 days at the top as of 6 October 2016, the most by any bowler since World War II. In October 2012, former South African test cricketer Allan Donald called the South African pace attack, which Steyn was part of, alongside Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel, the best South Africa has ever produced. In December 2018, during the first Test against Pakistan, Steyn became the leading wicket taker for South Africa in Test cricket, previously held by all-rounder and former-captain Shaun Pollock.

Steyn was ruled out of the away Test series against Australia in 2016–17 after he broke his right shoulder bone in the first Test in Perth.

In the 2016 IPL auction, he was bought by Gujarat Lions for ₹ 22.3 million. In mid-April 2019, Steyn joined Royal Challengers Bangalore for the 2019 IPL season replacing injured Nathan Coulter-Nile.

Steyn took 3/78 in the first innings of the first Test of the South African tour in Bangladesh which was drawn due to stoppage by rain. Steyn took 16,634 balls to take his 400 test wickets and became the fastest bowler to complete the feat in terms of balls bowled. He took the 400th wicket when Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal was caught at slip by Hashim Amla on the first day of the second Test against Bangladesh on 30 July 2015. He completed the innings with figures of 3/30 while the second innings was washed out by heavy rain.

2015 article Is Dale Steyn the greatest fast bowler post WWII? by Glenn Mitchell

Steyn was picked for the Test squad to tour Pakistan in October, and played in both Tests. In the first Test at Karachi, during Pakistan's second innings, he picked up his third Test five-wicket haul as Pakistan were bowled out for 263 chasing 424 to win. He had an unremarkable second Test, with the match petering out to a draw, handing South Africa the series 1–0, and finished the series with nine wickets at 24.66.

In the 2nd Test match in a 3 match series, Steyn was involved in a record 9th wicket partnership of 180 with J.P. Duminy. Steyn recorded a score of 76 (191 deliveries) in an innings that helped South Africa recover from 6–141 to post a score of 459. Steyn also starred in the first innings with figures of 5–87 (29.0 overs). In the second innings Steyn returned figures of 5–67 (20.2 overs) and helped South Africa to restrict the Australians to 247 giving the hosts a lead of 183. Steyn now had match figures of 10–154. This is the third time that he has taken 10 wickets in a match in his test career. South Africa duly completed the chase with nine wickets in hand, giving them a 2–0 series lead and their first ever Test series win in Australia. It was also Australia's first home series defeat in 16 years. Steyn was named man of the match for this performance. Steyn made a rearguard effort in attempting to prevent an Australian victory in the 3rd Test in Sydney frustrating the hosts with 28 runs in 65 balls in a 50 run partnership from 105 balls with Makhaya Ntini in order to try to secure the draw. However, when he was out with 50 balls to go, injured captain Graeme Smith came in with a broken hand in an attempt to hold out. Smith was eventually bowled out by Mitchell Johnson with ten balls to go.

On 2 January 2013, Steyn bowled Doug Bracewell out in first session of the first test of the New Zealand tour to South Africa to take his 300 Test wickets in 61 matches. He reached the landmark in 8 years and 16 days to become the second fastest South African bowler in terms of time taken after Shaun Pollock. Steyn played a cameo as himself in the 2014 romantic comedy Blended starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore.

Steyn got career best ODI figures of 5 wickets for 50 runs against India in Nagpur during the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup. India had a good start to their batting innings but could not maintain their momentum, in the process losing their final 9 wickets for just 29 runs. Steyn played a vital role in the derailment of a strong Indian batting line-up. He was named in the 'Team of the Tournament' for the 2011 World Cup by the ICC and Cricinfo.

In the first Test against the Windies in the 2010 series, South Africa convincingly beat them, with Steyn take his 200th wicket, Sulieman Benn, clean bowled (off stump). This was also the wicket that brought Steyn his 14th five – for, a superb achievement considering Steyn's modest record of only 38 tests.

Steyn is an aggressive out-and-out fast bowler capable of bowling at speeds in excess of 150 km/h. He is capable of generating considerable swing and is usually chosen to bowl with the new ball to maximize these attributes. He bowls at 140 -150 He has also demonstrated the ability to reverse swing the older ball in a Test match against India in Nagpur in 2010, which South Africa won by an innings and six runs. Steyn is an extremely competitive cricketer and often celebrates vigorously after taking a wicket. He has stated that he "love(s) the buzz from bowling fast" and that he "want(s) to be the quickest in the world".

Steyn signed to play in the Indian Premier League in 2008, playing for the Royal Challengers Bangalore. He earned US$325,000 for his appearance in the tournament. For IPL 2011 he was bought by Deccan Chargers for $1.2 million. He later spent two seasons at Sunrisers Hyderabad, one season at Gujarat Lions and had a brief stint at Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2019.

He had a second stint in England, playing for Warwickshire in the first half of the 2007 English season. This time around he had more success, claiming 23 County Championship wickets in seven matches at an average of 25.86. He also played well in the Friends Provident Trophy, a 50-over tournament, finishing as the leading wicket-taker for Warwickshire. He has since become a regular in the South African One Day International team.

Despite his strong performance on his return to the team in the third Test against India, Steyn missed out on a place in the first two Tests against Pakistan, with the selectors opting to play a four-man attack featuring full-time spinner Paul Harris. He returned in the third Test, at Cape Town, when the selectors decided to rest André Nel and Shaun Pollock in preparation for the imminent 2007 Cricket World Cup. He took four wickets in the match for 87 runs as South Africa won the match by 5 wickets and took the series 2–1. As this was his only match, his average for the series was 21.75.

Steyn was recalled to the South African ODI squad in June 2007 and played in three matches between June and August, against Ireland, India and Zimbabwe. He had mixed success in these three matches, taking wickets but proving expensive.

He made his Twenty20 International debut on 23 November 2007 in the one-off game against New Zealand, taking the wicket of Scott Styris and only giving up 17 runs from his four overs. He also featured in the third One Day International at Cape Town, where he had partial success, taking the wickets of the New Zealand openers, Brendon McCullum and Lou Vincent, but going for 50 runs from nine overs.

The first Test at Chennai turned out to be a very high scoring affair, with South Africa batting first and making 540, then India responding strongly, led by Virender Sehwag who scored 319 from 304 balls, to reach 468/1 by the end of the third day. On the fourth day Steyn helped to restrict India's lead to 87 runs by dismissing MS Dhoni with a bouncer then blasting through the lower order, taking three wickets in two overs for the cost of two runs, all bowled with reverse swinging deliveries. He finished the innings, and the match which petered out into a tame draw, with four wickets for 103 runs. On the morning of the second Test at Ahmedabad, South Africa demolished the much vaunted Indian batting line within twenty overs, for the meagre total of 76 runs. Steyn was the pick of the bowlers taking five wickets for 23 runs, dismissing Sehwag and Rahul Dravid then mopping up the last three batsmen for the cost of 11 runs. In the second innings he added a further three wickets to his match tally, finishing the game with eight wickets for 114 runs, as South Africa completed a crushing victory by an innings and 90 runs. The final Test at Kanpur saw Steyn pick up three first innings wickets which took him to 15 wickets in the series at an average of 20.20. As a result of this, the cumulation of an outstanding 2007/08 season in which he took 75 wickets in 11 matches, Steyn moved up to joint first place (alongside Muttiah Muralitharan) in the ICC Test match bowling rankings.

Following a strong season playing domestic cricket for the Titans, Steyn was recalled to the Test side to play New Zealand in April 2006. He responded to his opportunity with his first five-wicket haul in the first Test at Centurion, ripping through the New Zealand batting lineup along with Makhaya Ntini as New Zealand crumbled to 120 all out, chasing 248 to win. He finished the three Test series with 16 wickets at 26.00 and made a fine impression throughout.

Steyn was included in the Test team to play Sri Lanka away in a two match series in July and August 2006. In his first overseas Test, at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo, he took 3 for 129 as Sri Lanka piled up 756–5, with Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene putting together the highest Test match partnership ever (624 runs). South Africa slumped to defeat by an innings and 153 runs. In the second Test, at the Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu Stadium, Colombo, Steyn took his second five-wicket haul in Tests during Sri Lanka's first innings, but went wicketless in their seconds innings as Sri Lanka sealed a 2–0 series victory by a single wicket. Steyn finished the series with eight wickets at an average of 36.50.

Steyn went to England in 2005 to play for Essex, appearing in seven matches between May and June. He failed to make a big impact in his initial outing in County Championship cricket, taking 14 wickets at 59.85. Following his work at Essex with world expert bowling coach Ian Pont Steyn returned to domestic cricket in South Africa, where he bowled excellently for the Titans through the 2005/2006 season which earned him a recall to the Test squad to face New Zealand.

Later that year, Steyn was picked in the squad for the African XI in the Afro-Asia Cup of 2005/06, and he made his One Day International debut on 17 August 2005. The African XI won the match, with Steyn bowling last batsman Ashish Nehra to seal victory by two runs. Steyn made his One Day International debut for South Africa on 20 January 2006 in a match against Australia at Melbourne, a match which was part of the 2005–06 VB Series. Steyn did not bowl particularly well and after another below par performance against Sri Lanka he dropped out of consideration for the South African ODI team.

Steyn made his debut for South Africa on 17 December 2004 in the first Test of England's tour. His first victim in Test cricket was Marcus Trescothick whom he bowled with a fast in-swinging delivery. However, his overall performance was underwhelming, he took eight wickets at an average of 52.00 and he was dropped after bowling poorly in England's second innings of the fourth Test in January 2005, bowling eight no-balls in nine overs which went for 47 runs. England won the match by 77 runs.

Steyn made his first-class debut for Northerns (subsequently merged with Easterns to form the Titans) on 17 October 2003. He only played two first-class games and made little impact in his first season, but a series of strong performances in the initial part of the 2004/2005 season saw him called up to the Test squad to play England. He went back to playing for the Titans after failing to impress in his first three Tests.

Dale Willem Steyn (/ˈ s t eɪ n / ; born 27 June 1983) is a South African professional cricketer who plays for the South African Cricket Team. He is regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time. During the 2007/08 season Steyn achieved a tally of 78 wickets at an average of 16.24, and was subsequently rewarded with the ICC 2008 Test Cricketer of the Year Award. He was named one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 2013, and Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World for the year 2013 in 2014’s Wisden Cricketers' Almanack.