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The Indian Premier League has completed a decade and has established itself as a big brand. There have been several spectacular performances from the players, be it a 17-year old Washington Sundar in 2017 or a veteran like Pravin Tambe who came into limelight making his IPL debut at the age of 41 and bagging a hat-trick in 2014 edition. The domestic players have benefitted immensely playing with and against the stalwarts of the game in front of big crowds at every venue.
The slam-bang nature of the T20 format made the experts, as well as the audience, speculate that the batsmen will be the only bosses. However, the bowlers have managed to carve their own niche with their different variations and a great control over their skills. In this article, let us have a look at the leading wicket-takers during each cycle after the mega auctions in 2008, 2011 and 2014.
#1 Season one to Season three: Rudra Pratap Singh
Rudra Pratap Singh was the leading wicket-taker during the first three seasons of the Indian Premier League. He picked 51 wickets during the period with an average of 24.09 and a good strike rate of 18.00. The left-arm pacer had a decent economy rate of 8.03 despite bowling prominently in the Powerplay and the slog phase of the game.
RP contributed immensely to the Deccan Chargers’ triumph in the 2009 edition of the tournament winning the Purple Cap with 23 wickets at an impressive economy rate of 6.98 and an average of just 18.13. The spell of 4/22 against Kolkata Knight Riders and an economical spell of 4-0-16-1 in the final while defending a low score were his noteworthy performances. His wicket tally during the three seasons was 15, 23 and 13 respectively. The great show in the 2009 season enabled RP Singh to make a comeback to the Indian squad for the World T20 that followed.
#2 Season four to Season six: Lasith Malinga
Lasith Malinga was the highest wicket-taker in the next three seasons of the Indian Premier League with 70 wickets in just 47 matches at an impressive average of just 17.04. He had a great strike rate of 15.75 to go along with an economy rate of just 6.48 thus proving to be a very reliable bowler for the Mumbai Indians team.
Malinga was particularly at his best during the 2011 season winning the Purple Cap with 28 wickets at an average of 13.39 and a miserly economy rate of just 5.95. He bowled most dot balls during the season with 183 dot deliveries. Malinga’s wicket tally during the three seasons was 28, 22 and 20 respectively. The Sri Lankan pacer delivered some stupendous performances like 5/13 against Delhi Daredevils in 2011 and spells of 3/9 and 4/16 against Deccan Chargers in 2011 and 2012 respectively. In the final of the 2013 season, while defending a low total, he picked the important wickets of Michael Hussey and Suresh Raina in the first over of the innings to set the foundation of Mumbai’s victory.
#3 Season seven to Season ten: Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Bhuvneshwar Kumar topped the wicket-tally during the next four seasons of the Indian Premier League. The Sunrisers Hyderabad pacer snared 87 wickets at an impressive average of 18.62 and a strike rate of just 15.39. Bhuvi’s economy rate of 7.25 was also pretty exemplary considering that he operated mostly during the initial overs and during the slog phase. He won the Purple Cap for the two consecutive seasons in 2016 and 2017 and was instrumental in Sunrisers Hyderabad winning the title in 2016. He had a high dot ball percentage of 41.15 during the four editions and bowled the most dots in 2016, with 156 dot deliveries.
Bhuvneshwar’s wicket tally during the four seasons was 20, 18, 23 and 26 respectively. The spells of 4/14 against Rajasthan Royals in 2014, 4/29 against Gujarat Lions in 2016 and 5/19 against Kings XI Punjab in 2017 were his best performances. The great bowling efforts in the tournament have enabled him to establish himself as a premier bowler for India across all formats.
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