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 two 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 | Wickets in 1st Over | Innings | Balls Bowled | Econ. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trent Boult | 33 | 103 | 618 | 5.53 |
| Bhuvneshwar Kumar | 29 | 136 | 816 | 5.16 |
| Deepak Chahar | 16 | 83 | 494 | 6.35 |
| Praveen Kumar | 15 | 89 | 534 | 5.04 |
| Zaheer Khan | 14 | 65 | 390 | 6.04 |
| Sandeep Sharma | 13 | 78 | 468 | 5.41 |
| Lasith Malinga | 12 | 31 | 186 | 4.54 |
| Mohammed Siraj | 12 | 50 | 300 | 6.40 |
| Umesh Yadav | 12 | 49 | 294 | 5.28 |
| Dale Steyn | 11 | 47 | 282 | 4.55 |
Key Insights
Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Trent Boult are the only two 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 the 20th over.
Bhuvneshwar has delivered more than 500 dot balls in the first overs he has bowled in the league. (Check out Bhuvi’s year-wise performance in the tournament 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 35 runs per wicket.
Spinners can be effective with the new ball, and Ravichandran Ashwin has shown it. He is the only spinner who has taken seven or more wickets in the 1st over in the IPL. Ashwin is also the only tweaker with 50 or more wickets in the powerplay phase in the league.
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