The Indian Premier League is set to begin in just two days’ time from 9 April 2021. The first match will be played between Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore. This time, the IPL will be played without any fans in the stands due to the pandemic restrictions in place. When the IPL started in 2008, many believed that good bowlers would cease to exist due to the nature of cricket that was being played in the newly introduced T20 format. But the plethora of bowlers proved this assumption wrong.
With time, the bowlers evolved. Specialist T20 bowlers started coming in the fray, new kind of deliveries were invented, slower balls and yorkers were used in abundance and most importantly, a ‘good length’ ball was not a good ball anymore. With this changed way of playing cricket, many bowlers managed to restrict the flow of runs in IPL. Here’s a list of the Top 5 bowlers in IPL, as in the ones who have picked up most wickets in the Indian Premier League.
Lasith Malinga (MI): The retired cricketer from Sri Lanka – who also retired from IPL – is perhaps, the best bowler in the T20 format around the world. His ability to bowl yorkers at will is unmatched. He has 170 wickets and is on top, but Malinga has played the least number of matches in the list of Top 8 bowlers. Malinga was Mumbai Indian’s main man in bowling. He has 170 wickets at an average of 19.80 and an economy of 7.14 rpo.
Amit Mishra (DC): The leg-spinner who is considered to be one of the easiest target to hit boundaries is number two in the list of top wicket-takers. He has picked up 160 wickets at an economy of 7.34. He also has one fifer against his name.
Piyush Chawla (MI): The spinner, who was the main man in Punjab’s team for some time is the number three in the list of players with most wickets in IPL. Chawla has 156 wickets in 164 matches. He has a knack of picking wickets in the middle overs. He was picked by the Mumbai Indians this year.
Dwayne Bravo (CSK): The man who started playing for Mumbai Indians who shifted to CSK and made a mark with his bowling. Bravo could contain runs at the death like no one else. He has 152 wickets in 140 matches. He will be MS Dhoni’s go to man even in this IPL.
Harbhajan Singh (KKR): Bhajji will be with a new franchise this year. He has played for Mumbai Indians and also for the Chennai Super Kings. This time, he is with the Kolkata Knight Riders and it looks like it will be difficult for Harbhajan to find a place in the eleven. He has 160 wickets in 150 games. What’s impressive is his economy rate of 7.05 which is even better than Lasith Malinga. He was bought by KKR at his base price of 2 crore rupees.
This was the list of Top 5 Wicket Takers in the history of Indian Premier League.