Leg spinners are one of the most integral parts of a T20 team. Very seldom would you see a team play a T20 match without a leg spinner. This is because it is the leg spinners who break crucial partnerships and are always amongst the wickets.
Leg spinners have always been successful in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Right from Shane Warne and Anil Kumble in the early days of IPL, leggies are considered the key players of your team.
Today we shall be taking a look at the top five greatest leg spinners in IPL history.
5. Piyush Chawla
Chawla has been one of the most consistent leg spinners in IPL history. He is only the second leggie to feature in all 14 editions of the IPL. The Uttar Pradesh leg spinner embarked on his IPL journey with Kings XI Punjab and was an instant hit. He was the fourth-highest wicket-taker with 17 wickets in the inaugural edition of the IPL as the Punjab franchise finished second in the league. Chawla’s increasing success in the IPL also led to his national call-up.
One of Piyush’s highlighting stats in IPL is that he has dismissed Robin Uthappa six times in the tournament. It is the second best for any bowler who has dismissed a single batsman most number of times.
Chawla has played 164 IPL games and has picked 156 wickets.
4. Rashid Khan
It is safe to say that Rashid Khan has been one of the most impactful players in IPL for quite a while now. He has been SRH’s key weapon since 2017, and rightly so. The 22-year-old can unsettle the batsmen with his straighter ones and is quicker deliveries. The Afghan’s quick action is difficult to read on fast seaming wickets. Rashid Khan has the ability to produce wicket-taking deliveries. You can read here in detail about Rashid Khan’s all variants of deliveries.
The leg spinner has taken 79 wickets in 64 IPL games with the best figures of 7/5.
3. Imran Tahir
Arguably the greatest T20 spinner of all time, Imran Tahir is an asset to any team he plays for. He started his IPL career with Delhi and then represented the now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiant before finally representing Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings. The South African cricketer won the purple cap in 2019 as well.
Tahir has picked 80 wickets in the 58 IPL games he has played so far.
2. Yuzvendra Chahal
Chahal is currently India’s best leg spinner. He has been one of the best bowlers for RCB for a really long time. It gets better when you realize that he has played most of his IPL games in Chinnaswamy stadium, one of the flattest decks and is often termed as a “Graveyard” for bowlers.
The RCBian has picked 121 wickets in 100 games and has an economy rate of 7.7
1.Amit Mishra
Now, this has to be no-brainer! Mishra isn’t just the best leg spinner in IPL but is also one of the greatest IPL bowlers ever. The best of the best batters have failed to pick him. Having picked up 157 wickets as a leg spinner in the IPL, which is generally a batsman-friendly competition, Amit Mishra has been a man for all seasons.
Indeed, he has been a part of every single season in the IPL and remains the only bowler to have bagged three IPL hat-tricks. The second-highest wicket-taker in IPL history started his journey with the Delhi Daredevils (DD) in the inaugural IPL and ticked a new box every year. He registered his best IPL figures of 5 for 17 in the very first season of the competition. He was also part of SRH in one of these successfully defended lowest scores in IPL.
Amit Mishra has picked 160 wickets in 151 games with an economy of 7.35, standing 2md in the overall wicket-takers in the tournament’s history.
