Providing the team with a stellar start is on every player’s mind, be it batters or bowlers.
Batters look to hammer the ball from the word go to put up a challenging total on the board. Bowlers, on the other hand, try to skittle a wicket or 2 of the opponent to push them under pressure.
The Indian Premier League (IPL) has brilliant bowlers on its roster who’ve set the course of the game in the first over itself on many occasions. These new ball operators use the conditions effectively to get early breakthroughs for their teams.
On that note, let’s glance at the top 10 bowlers with the most wickets in the first over in IPL history.
Most Wickets in 1st Over in IPL
Player | Innings | Wickets in 1st Over | Balls Bowled | Econ. |
---|---|---|---|---|
Trent Boult | 93 | 30 | 558 | 5.40 |
Bhuvneshwar Kumar | 125 | 29 | 750 | 5.04 |
Praveen Kumar | 89 | 15 | 534 | 5.04 |
Zaheer Khan | 65 | 14 | 390 | 6.04 |
Deepak Chahar | 77 | 14 | 458 | 6.48 |
Sandeep Sharma | 78 | 13 | 468 | 5.41 |
Lasith Malinga | 31 | 12 | 186 | 4.54 |
Umesh Yadav | 49 | 12 | 294 | 5.28 |
Dale Steyn | 47 | 11 | 282 | 4.55 |
Tim Southee | 31 | 10 | 186 | 6.19 |
Key Insights
Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Trent Boult are the only 2 bowlers with 25 or more wickets in the first over in the IPL. And Bhuvi is the only one with 25+ wickets in the opening over and 20th over.
Bhuvneshwar has delivered more than 450 dot balls in the first overs he has bowled in the league. (Check out Bhuvi’s year-wise performance in the IPL here.)
Lasith Malinga has the best economy rate and bowling average in the opening over among the bowlers with 10+ wickets. The speedster’s economy rate was 4.54, and he conceded approximately 12.81 runs before getting a wicket.
On the other hand, Deepak Chahar has the worst bowling average, conceding around 40 runs per wicket.
Ravichandran Ashwin is the only spinner who has taken 7 or more wickets in the 1st over in the IPL.
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