The Indian Premier League (IPL) carnival will kick off its fifteenth edition on March 26 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The tournament is one of the best T20 leagues in the world.
Over the years, the IPL has witnessed many special bowling spells, where the bowlers have shown great skills to outfox the batters. The likes of Lasith Malinga, Amit Mishra, Ravichandran Ashwin have pulled off amazing bowling performances.
A few have managed to enter the records book and register their name in the list of best bowling figures in the league.
In this article, we take a look at the five top bowling figures in the history of the Indian Premier League.
#5 Ishant Sharma
Ishant Sharma ranks fifth on the list of best bowling figures in the history of the Indian Premier League. Playing for Deccan Chargers in 2011, Ishant bowled a dream spell to register an easy win against Kochi Tuskers Kerela. He took a five-wicket haul, conceding only 12 runs in the match.
The pacer dismissed Parthiv Patel, Raiphi Gomez, Brad Hodge, Kedar Jadhav, and Mahela Jayawardene to reduced Kochi to 11 for six down after four overs chasing a modest total of 130. He was awarded the ‘Player of the Match’ award.
#4 Anil Kumble
Anil Kumble was at his might best against the Rajasthan Royals in the 2009 IPL match. The Rajasthan Royals batters failed to tackle the legendary spinner and were bowled out for just 58 runs. He conceded only 5 runs in 3.1 overs and scalped a five-wicket haul.
Kumble dismissed Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, Shane Warne, Munaf Patel, and Kamran Khan. The Royal Challengers Bangalore won the match 75 runs. ‘Jumbo’ finished IPL 2009 as the second-highest wicket-taker in the tournament.
#3 Adam Zampa
Adam Zampa wreaked havoc with his spin bowling against the Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2016. He took six wickets in an innings at an economy rate of 4.75. His six dismissals were Kane Williamson, Yuvraj Singh, Moises Henriques, Deepak Hooda, Naman Ojha, and Bhuvneswar Kumar.
Unfortunately, Adam Zampa’s spell could not win the match for the Rising Pune Giants. Their batting line failed to chase down 138 and lost the match by 4 runs.
However, Zampa was awarded the Player of the Match trophy for his bowling performance.
#2 Sohail Tanvir
Sohail Tanvir was the star player for the Rajasthan Royals in the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League. He ended the tournament as the leading wicket-taker with 22 wickets. His best bowling figures of 6/14 came against the Chennai Super Kings in the 2008 season.
En route his six-wicket haul, Tanvir dismissed Parthiv Patel, Stephen Fleming, Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan, Albie Morkel, Muttiah Muralitharan, and Makhaya Ntini.
The pacer played an instrumental role in Rajasthan Royals’ title-winning campaign.
#1 Alzarri Joseph
The Sunrisers Hyderabad batters faced the wrath of Alzarri Joseph’s lethal bowling in IPL 2019. Conceding only 12 runs, he scalped six wickets breaking the back of the SRH batting attack. This spell tops the list of best bowling figures in the Indian Premier League.
Joseph dismissed David Warner, Vijay Shankar, Deepak Hooda, Rashid Khan, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, and Siddharth Kaul. He earned the Player of the Match award as the Mumbai Indians won the game by 40 runs.
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