The Indian Premier League gives top Indian and international bowlers to shine for different franchises. With the pitches help for the batters, all types of bowlers need to use their variations, skills, and ability to deceive them, helping them to win matches with superb spells.
Mohammed Shami performed brilliantly for Gujarat Titans as the leading wicket-taker in IPL 2023 and was awarded the Purple Cap award. He will miss this year’s edition of IPL which would be a massive blow for Gujarat Titans.
Various top-quality bowlers have done well in the shortest format and hope to deliver the same in IPL 2024.
Here we look at the top 5 contenders to win the Purple Cap in IPL 2024:
- Jasprit Bumrah
Jasprit Bumrah’s return to Mumbai Indians’ bowling unit will be a major boost. He missed the entire IPL 2023 due to an injury. His absence was not felt as Mumbai Indians reached the knockout stage of the tournament.
Bumrah performed brilliantly in the 5-match Test series against England and helped them to win matches with his lethal bowling. He will be a key bowler for Mumbai Indians to pick early wickets in the first six overs and prove his worth in the death overs not allowing the opponent team to score runs freely.
- Kuldeep Yadav
The left-arm chainman Kuldeep Yadav had an outstanding performance in the Test series against England at home. He bowled with great control and did not allow England bowlers to score runs with ease.
Delhi Capitals had a disappointing outing in 2023 IPL finishing 9th in the points table. Kuldeep Yadav took 10 wickets from 14 matches (14 innings) at an economy of 7.36 runs per over including best figures of 2 for 15.
Kuldeep would play a key role in the middle overs to take wickets and stem the flow of runs against top-quality explosive batters who can create enough pressure on bowlers.
- Mitchell Starc
Mitchell Starc would be returning to IPL journey after a gap of 9 years. He last played in the 2015 edition for Royal Challengers Bangalore and grabbed 20 wickets from 13 matches at an economy of 6.76 runs per over including best figures of 4 for 15.
The left-arm pace bowler Starc has been bought by the Kolkata Knight Riders franchise for Rs 24.75 Crore. KKR struggled big time last year with their bowling. Keeping in mind the T20 World Cup to be played in the USA and West Indies, Starc would be hoping for a great IPL season with KKR.
Starc will be a key member to provide early wickets in the first six overs. His performance would help KKR big time and make sure that he stakes a claim in the Australian squad for the mega event.
- Rashid Khan
Rashid Khan returned to action with great performances in the T20I series against Ireland that finished with Afghanistan winning 2-1. He did not play international matches due to an injury.
The star leg spinner had a brilliant outing for Gujarat Titans in IPL 2023. He along with Mohit Sharma and Mohammed Shami were the main wicket takers for GT last year.
Rashid took a total of 27 wickets from 17 matches (17 innings) at an economy of 8.23 runs per over with best figures of 4 for 30 including a hattrick against Kolkata Knight Riders. With no Mohammed Shami in the bowling lineup, the onus will be on him to provide wickets in the middle overs and not allow opponent batters to score runs easily.
- Kagiso Rabada
The South African pace bowler Kagiso Rabada had a disappointing season last year for Punjab Kings. He was retained by the PBKS franchise this season. Rabada played only 6 matches in the entire season last year, picking 7 wickets at an economy of 10.38 runs per over with best figures of 2 for 34.
He needs to pick early wickets in the first six overs and not allow the opponent batters to score runs easily. PBKS captain Shikhar Dhawan needs to trust him and make sure that Rabada can do the damage in early overs and also death overs which would help them to win matches.
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