[1][2][3] Steyn's ability to produce late swing at high pace - a rare and lethal combination amongst fast bowlers - made him stand apart from many of his contemporaries.

During the 2007–08 season, Steyn achieved a tally of 78 wickets at an average of 16.24,[4] and was subsequently rewarded with the ICC 2008 Test Cricketer of the Year Award.

[11] Steyn dominated the number one spot in the ICC Test rankings at the peak of his career, for a record 263 weeks between 2008 and 2014.

[17] Steyn was born in 1983 in the small town of Phalaborwa, on the border of the Kruger National Park in South Africa.

[19] Steyn made his first-class debut for Northerns (subsequently merged with Easterns to form the Titans) on 17 October 2003.

[23] As a result of becoming a regular selection for the national team, Steyn subsequently played little domestic cricket in South Africa from then onwards, appearing for the Titans in just five SuperSport Series matches after the end of the 2005/06 season.

[28][29] In mid-April 2019, Steyn joined Royal Challengers Bangalore for the 2019 IPL season as a replacement for the injured Nathan Coulter-Nile.

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 did not bowl particularly well[43] and after another below par performance against Sri Lanka[44] he dropped out of consideration for the South African ODI team.

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.

[58] 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.

[59] 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.

[66] 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.

[70]Coming into the three Test series against India predictions about how Steyn would fare were mixed, with some commentators identifying him a crucial part of a South African team which could pose a serious challenge to India,[71] whilst others predicted he might struggle playing against a strong batting lineup on lifeless subcontinent pitches.

[73] 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.

[76] 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 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.

[79][80] ....It is human nature to underrate the present and grossly overrate the past, but if you outlaw that trait, time has come to place Steyn among the greatest fast bowlers of the game..... 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.

[82] 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.

[84][85] Steyn played a cameo as himself in the 2014 romantic comedy Blended starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore.

[86] 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.

[91]....one could make a very strong case for Steyn being best fast bowler post the Second World War, especially when you consider the abundant advantages afforded to batsmen in recent times..... 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.

[98] On 26 December 2018, he equaled Shaun Pollock's record as the highest wicket-taker in South African test history.

[106][107] In December 2021, Steyn was appointed as the fast bowling coach of Indian Premier League side Sunrisers Hyderabad for the 2022 IPL season.

[109] Steyn is an aggressive out-and-out fast bowler capable of bowling at speeds in excess of 150 km/h, his fastest being 156.7 km/h (97.3 mph) for Royal Challengers Bangalore against Kolkata Knight Riders in the 2010 Indian Premier League.

He usually bowls between 140 km/h and 150 km/h [111] He has also demonstrated the ability to reverse swing the older ball in a Test match against India in Nagpur in 2010,[112] which South Africa won by an innings and six runs.