IPL 2021: Top five wicket-takers of the suspended tournament

With IPL 2021 postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 outbreak within the bio-bubble, the future of the season is now in question. The bubble integrity managers were there to monitor players and report on any potential breaches and measures to counter any adverse situations during this year's tournament.

Yet, on May 3rd, news broke that the IPL bio-bubble had been breached despite all the precautions, with Varun Chakravarthy and Sandeep Warrier testing positive from the Kolkata Knight Riders camp.

The domino effect followed with reports then suggesting that three non-playing members of the Chennai Super Kings contingent had tested Covid-19 positive after the latest round of testing on May 2. This included bowling coach Lakshmipathy Balaji, and a member of their maintenance staff. Additionally, five members of the Arun Jaitley Stadium's groundstaff had reportedly also tested positive.

The BCCI decided that the health and safety of their players was paramount and suspended the tournament indefinitely. With the IPL 2021 at its midway stage at the time of suspension, we did get a fair idea of how the teams were performing and which players were having a significant impact on their side.

The race for the Purple Cap has always been an intriguing one in the IPL, but this season has been slightly more pleasing from Indian cricket's perspective. Let's take a look at which bowlers stood out for their sides, with the most wickets in the tournament so far.

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1. Harshal Patel (IPL 2021 Purple Cup holder)

Harshal Patel made his debut in the 2012 IPL season and has participated in 41 matches across seven seasons since then. After struggling in his initial seasons with an expensive economy rate, RCB decided to gamble on the Harayana medium pacer as their death bowler.

Harshal repaid this faith by getting off to a fantastic start in this year's IPL with his clever change of pace and a bag of variations to trouble the batsmen.

Harshal Patel became the first-ever bowler to take a five-for against the Mumbai Indians in the IPL 2021 opener in Chennai. After taking a beating in the last couple of games, including that 37- run hammering in one over courtesy of Ravindra Jadeja, Patel's splendid run has toned down a bit.

Despite those expensive spells, the pacer has averaged 15.11 at a strike rate of 9.88 (both league leading numbers), while his economy rate has taken a bit of a beating at 9.17.

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2. Avesh Khan

Avesh Khan played for RCB against the Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) in the 2017 IPL season before moving to the capital franchise in 2018. The pacer from Indore is enjoying his breakthrough season in the IPL this year and has been mighty impressive so far.

The youngster has added some big scalps to his name, most notably the Indian captain Virat Kohli and CSK skipper MS Dhoni.

With 14 wickets and the best figures of 3/32 to his name, Avesh averages 16.50 at a strike rate of 12.85. He has also bowled at a staggering economy rate of just 7.70, despite bowling in the death.

Despite the Delhi Capitals having a number of pacers with experience on the international stage, it is the young man from Indore leading their attack this IPL.

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3. Chris Morris

The Rajasthan Royals raised a few eyebrows when they signed Chris Morris for a whopping 16.25 crore in the IPL 2021 auction. However, the South African has shown why he is regarded as one of the best T20 all-rounders in the world.

Despite the RR squad being hit with key injuries, Morris has taken on the mantle, with 14 wickets to his name so far. With best figures of 4/23, and an economy rate of 8.61, Morris ha done an admirable job of leading the RR bowling attack alongside Mustafizur Rahman and the young Chetan Sakariya.

The bowling all-rounder averages 16.00 with a strike rate of 11.14, both leading numbers for his side. The South African all-rounder has also scored some crucial runs for the Royals. Despite the hefty price tag, Morris has proved to be value for money with his match-winning contributions to the side.

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4. Rahul Chahar

Another young Indian, who might be a surprise on this list, has been the in-form Rahul Chahar. The leg-spinner has been a game-changer for the Mumbai Indians on a number of occasions this IPL season.

The Mumbai Indians showed confidence in the skilful leg spinner and played him in 13 of their 16 matches in 2019. The youngster rewarded his side's faith during IPL 2020, bagging 15 wickets. Chahar has continued to grow this season and is fourth on the list for most wickets taken, with 11 wickets to his name so far.

Chahar bagged his best figures of 4/23 against KKR to completely turn the game on its head. The leggie then repeated his heroics in the match against SRH as well. With economical spells and clever googlies, he is quickly becoming one of the standout spinners in the Indian circuit.

With a splendid economy rate of 7.21, an average of 18.36 and a strike rate 15.27, Chahar has been a key weapon in MI skipper Rohit Sharma's arsenal, with his uncanny ability to change games in the middle overs. With most spinners in the Indian side struggling for form, Rahul Chahar will be hoping his splendid form will be rewarded with a call up to the Indian side for the T20 World Cup.

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5. Rashid Khan

There can't be a Purple Cap race with Rashid Khan not being in contention, can there? The Afghan is another leg-spinner on the list who has the ability to turn things around at any stage of the game with variations that most batsmen are yet to figure out. Perhaps more than the variations, it's the intelligence of Rashid that most batsmen struggle to decrypt.

Despite a list of noticeable absentees in the SRH line-up, Rashid continues to spearhead the bowling attack. It's no surprise that the Afghan leggie is the most economical bowler of IPL 2021, bowling at just 6.14 runs an over. Averaging 17.20, at a strike rate of 16.80, Rashid has notched up 10 wickets including best figures of 3/36 in this year's IPL.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to notice tjat Rashid Khan has picked fewer wickets because most opposition players look to bat out his overs. Despite the odds, Rashid racks up staggering numbers almost every season.