IPL 2021: 5 Bowlers With Most Wickets In A Single IPL Season

The IPL has been a very tough tournament for the bowlers as the modern era has shifted more towards the batsmen, but still, there have been bowlers who have taken wickets time consistently. The pressure of the biggest stages can get to the players easily and hence, being a bowler is not an easy job. It is not a surprise now if the good balls go to the boundary and the bad balls earn a wicket too.

Purple Cap is rewarded for the bowler who takes the most number of wickets in a season and the race for the cap is highly competitive. Wicket-taking bowlers tend to go for runs most often and hence to find bowlers who take wickets as well as do not give many runs is the need of any franchise.

Harshal Patel is the leading wicket-taker in the ongoing IPL edition with 17 wickets in 6 games. Here are 5 bowlers with the most wickets in a single IPL season.

5 Bowlers With Most Wickets In A Single IPL Season:

5. Jasprit Bumrah:

The Mumbai Indians pacer and Indian star bowler Jasprit Bumrah found his best rhythm in the previous IPL edition in UAE. He used the pace of the wickets to his advantage and bowled some brilliant spells at the top and as well as at the death. He has been simply outstanding for India and Mumbai Indians in the last four to five years and he deserved to have taken that many wickets.

Bumrah picked up 27 wickets in the edition and fell short by three wickets to win the purple cap to finish second on the list of top wicket-takers.

He swung the new ball and provided a lot of early breakthroughs which helped Mumbai progress to the finals easily and thereby, win the fifth title too. He has been an important part of the Mumbai setup and is one of the best match winners going around in world cricket now.

4. James Faulkner:

James Faulkner had his best run of form in IPL in the 2013 edition where he had a great impact on the team’s performances. He was used as a floater in the batting order as well and won games for his side Rajasthan Royals single-handedly. He proved to be a great buy for the Royals and he finished with 28 wickets in the season which is the fourth-best overall in IPL history.

However, he could not get past the tally of Dwayne Bravo in 2013 who won the purple cap. Faulkner was an excellent all-rounder and was at the peak of his game when he played for the Royals.

He has a lot of variations with back-of-the-hand stuff and cutters. His pace started to drop over the years and he has failed to be as effective as before. He picked up two fifers in the same edition which was a rare instance.

3. Lasith Malinga:

The veteran bowler from Sri Lanka, Lasith Malinga has been one of the greatest IPL bowlers and his stats do tell the story. He is the overall highest wicket-taker in the IPL history and has been playing for the Mumbai Indians since the 2009 edition. He decided to retire from playing any cricket after the 2019 IPL finals and he indeed was the hero of the match.

It was the best farewell he could have had as bowled a brilliant slower one which yorked Shardul Thakur and he was adjudged LBW with two runs to get off the final ball in the 2019 IPL final. He picked up 28 wickets in 16 games in the 2011 edition and he was the purple cap holder in the season too.

2. Kagiso Rabada:

The South African quick Kagiso Rabada wasn’t the greatest bowler when he came into the IPL, but he transformed into a brilliant T20 bowler in the last two to three editions.

He has got the pace, varieties, yorkers and he can bowl at the top as well as at the death overs. He had a phenomenal 2020 IPL for the Delhi Capitals in UAE where he bagged the purple cap and picked up 30 wickets in 17 games.

Rabada has some amazing numbers in the last two seasons and he has been taking wickets consistently for Delhi. His super over exploits of six yorkers against Andre Russell will go down in history as one of the best in the IPL history. It is still early days for him in the IPL and he still has plenty of years to break lot more records.

1.Dwayne Bravo:

The West Indian all-rounder Dwayne Bravo has lost the pace he had in the early days, but he has gone on to become one of the best T20 bowlers in the world. He has a lot of variations and his slower ones are really hard to get under. He hits the yorkers too and picks up a lot of wickets at the death overs thereby, reducing the run flow too.

Bravo picked up 32 wickets for Chennai Super Kings in the 2013 edition and it is still a record for the most number of wickets in a single season.

The 37-year-old is still looking to play the T20 WorldCup for West Indies this year and he could be very vital to their plans. MS Dhoni is a master of using Dwayne Bravo and the West Indian is a good batter along with excellent fielding abilities.