Despite ending up on the losing side, Rising Pune Supergiants' Adam Zampa did something that had only been done once before in the history of the Indian Premier League. Zampa's six-wicket haul gave him the best bowling figures by an Australian in a T20 match beating Ben Laughlin's 6/28 but where does his figures rank among the best in the IPL?
There have been some legends of the game who have taken part in the tournament but have any of them done enough to feature in this list. Let us take a look at the best bowling figures in the history of the IPL.
Note: For the purpose of this list, if the bowlers are level in terms of wickets taken, the bowler with the least number of runs conceded is considered to have better figures.
Lasith Malinga
What makes Lasith Malinga so special as a T20 bowler is his ability to take the pitch out of the equation when he comes on to bowl. While there are some who thrive on helpful conditions and flatter to deceive on flat decks, the Sri Lankan pacer has shown that he is extremely effective on any condition as Delhi Daredevils found out in 2011.
Virender Sehwag had won the toss against Mumbai Indians and on what looked like a belter decided to bat first. After scoring 10 off the first over, that certainly looked to be true. But that was when Malinga got the ball. After Sehwag got off strike off the first ball, he removed David Warner and debutant Unmukt Chand in the space of three balls.
His second one was even better even if it ended in him not picking up a wicket as he managed to bowl a maiden to the Delhi captain. After two overs, his figures read 2-1-1-2. But that wasn't the end of his destruction, he picked up the crucial wicket of Venugopal Rao, just when it looked as though DD were going to crawl past 100 and added Morne Morkel two balls later.
In his final over, he finished the job as he got rid of Ashok Dinda for a five-ball duck and claimed the third-best IPL figures at the time. However, his figures of 5/13 were pushed down a place barely two weeks later.
Ishant Sharma
Ishant Sharma is undoubtedly the leader of the Indian pace attack in Tests but his performances in the shorter formats have always been ridiculed. While it is true that his tendency to continually bowl length balls make him predictable and easy to hit, especially in T20s, his height and ability to generate extra bounce also makes him a tricky customer to deal with.
Kochi Tuskers found this out the hard way against the Deccan Chargers in 2011. After winning the toss and electing to field, Mahela Jayawardene's side executed their plans perfectly and restricted the visitors to just 129. Although the total wasn't huge, the conditions meant it was going to be slightly tricky.
After Dale Steyn removed Brendon McCullum in the first over, Ishant Sharma made Kochi's worst nightmare come true as he picked up three wickets in four balls and only just missed out on a hat-trick as the Tuskers were reeling at 2/4 at the end of the second over. Parthiv Patel was deceived by the extra bounce, Raiphi Gomez was done by a sharp inswinger and Brad Hodge paid for his adventorousness as he edged one onto the stumps.The problem for Kochi was that Ishant wasn't done with that. He dismissed Kedar Jadhav with the first ball of his second over and saved the best for last as he produced a jaffa to dismiss the Kochi Tuskers captain. He finished with figures of 5/12 in his three overs, the second-best figures by an Indian in IPL history and Deccan Chargers won comfortably.
Anil Kumble
The second game of the second edition of the IPL between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rajasthan Royals is remembered for a lot of reasons. It was the game which gave birth to a few IPL records, some good and some, which are best forgotten in a hurry. Anil Kumble will certainly remember that game fondly, for he got the better deal in the battle between two legends.
Royals were the defending champions and after restricting RCB to 133/8, they would have been confident of starting the season with a win. But Kumble had other plans as he picked up a five-wicket haul, ran through the Royals batting line-up and bundled them out for 58 in just 15.1 overs, which was the lowest score in IPL history and also the lowest team run rate in a completed innings in the IPL.
The wrecker-in-chief, Anil Kumble, led the way with 5/5 in 3.1 overs, which included a maiden over as well. After Praveen Kumar and Jesse Ryder had the Royals reeling at 28/4, the leg spinner came on and ensured that the tail didn't put up much of a fight. His figures are still the best by an Indian bowler in the IPL and until Tuesday, was the second-best before it was beaten by another leggie.
Adam Zampa
IPL 2016 is turning out to be the tournament in which the Australian leg spinner is making quite a name for himself. Firstly, he compared Virat Kohli's batting to that of a machine, despite previously not knowing too much about him and again, when he was talking about Tabraiz Shamsi's celebrations. Finally, on Tuesday, he let the ball do all the talking as he finished with a six-wicket haul, which ultimately went in vain, against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Kochi.
At the end of 15 overs, Zampa had bowled just one, which was economical. While it looked as though he might struggle to bowl his quota of overs from then onwards, he did so in fantastic fashion. The second ball of his return saw the end of the dangerous Yuvraj Singh and in his next over, he picked up two wickets in two balls as he saw off both Kane Williamson and Moises Henriques.
As the 24-year-old came in to bowl the final over of the innings, he already had figures of 3/11. Yet, he wasn't done yet as he picked up three wickets in five balls and only just missed out on a hat-trick courtesy of a tough chance going down and ended with his career-best T20 figures and the best by any Australian in T20s. Still, he has to be content with second spot on this list.
Sohail Tanvir
It was the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League. Chennai Super Kings were taking on Rajasthan Royals. Although the conditions looked slightly in favour of the bowlers, CSK won the toss and decided to bat first. Sohail Tanvir, a player who many hadn't heard of before the tournament got the new ball and ran through the top-order, exploiting the seamer-friendly conditions.
At Jaipur, Tanvir got sent both CSK openers back to the pavilion for a duck and gave the hosts the perfect start. There was a hint of swing and bounce and the Pakistan pacer made the most of it as he removed another in his second over.
With the visitors reeling, he was removed from the attack. When he came back into the attack at the death, they had managed to crawl towards 100. But just when it looked as though they might post a total that might give the bowlers something to bowl at, Tanvir removed the last three wickets and CSK were bundled out for 109.
And just like that Tanvir finished with figures of 4-0-14-6, which was the best figures in T20 cricket at the time. Although the figure has been bettered in T20s since, no one had come to close beating that until Zampa on Tuesday.
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