There’s no denying the batters have a larger say in the T20 format. However, some skilled bowlers go about their business as usual, picking up wickets in heaps.
This holds true for the Indian Premier League (IPL) as well, where bowlers have displayed their art of scalping wickets with little to no help from the surface.
Having such bowlers in the ranks helps teams keep the opposition batters in check. Many notable bowlers have delivered exemplary performances, completely outfoxing the batters.
This piece looks at the bowlers who rule the roost in the IPL. So here are the top 10 bowlers with the most wickets in IPL history.
Most Wickets in IPL History
| Player | Innings | Wickets | BBI | Average |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yuzvendra Chahal | 159 | 205 | 5/40 | 22.44 |
| Piyush Chawla | 191 | 192 | 4/17 | 26.60 |
| Dwayne Bravo | 158 | 183 | 4/22 | 23.82 |
| Bhuvneshwar Kumar | 176 | 181 | 5/19 | 27.23 |
| Sunil Narine | 175 | 180 | 5/19 | 25.39 |
| Ravichandran Ashwin | 208 | 180 | 4/34 | 29.82 |
| Amit Mishra | 162 | 174 | 5/17 | 23.82 |
| Lasith Malinga | 122 | 170 | 5/13 | 19.79 |
| Jasprit Bumrah | 133 | 165 | 5/10 | 22.51 |
| Ravindra Jadeja | 211 | 160 | 5/16 | 30.40 |
Key Insights
1: Leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal is the leading wicket-taker in IPL history. He surpassed Dwayne Bravo’s tally of 183 wickets to claim the top spot.
100: Over 20 bowlers have picked up 100 or more wickets in the tournament, with half of them being pace bowlers.
6: There are 3 bowlers who have taken 6 wickets in an innings. Sohail Tanvir (6/14), Adam Zampa (6/19), and Alzarri Joseph (6/12) delivered the joint-best bowling figures in an innings in the league.
19.79: Yorker King Lasith Malinga has the best bowling average among the bowlers with 50+ wickets in the league’s history. Slinga Malinga averaged 19.79 with the ball as he pocketed 170 wickets in 122 matches for the Mumbai Indians.
If we keep the wicket criteria to a minimum of 1, then Adam Gilchrist has an average of 0.00! In what was his last IPL match in 2013, Gilchrist plucked his only T20 wicket in his first and only ball, leaving everyone in a frenzy.
32: Harshal Patel and Dwayne Bravo hold the record for taking the joint-most wickets in a single IPL season. Both bowlers picked 32 wickets each in 2021 and 2013, respectively, with Bravo winning the Purple Cap in 2013.
27 & 64: Kagiso Rabada has been the fastest bowler to reach 50 and 100 wicket milestones in the IPL. Rabada took 27 matches to grab 50 wickets, while he completed 100 wickets in a mere 64 matches.
