The 5 Best Bowlers in the History of IPL

To say that India is a country that loves cricket would be making one of the greatest understatements about the country. India is a country obsessed with the game’s all formats, be it Test cricket, One Day International matches, or Twenty20 games.

Cricket’s popularity in India can be attributed to numerous factors, the most notable of them being the sheer ease of playing the game.

Cricket is a game that can be played just about anywhere, and in India, this is widely seen as ‘gully cricket’ or street cricket has become a form of the game of its own.

India is also home to world-class cricket infrastructure and offers top-quality training facilities. The country has some of the finest players who have gone on to bring immense glory to their team. 

One of the more recently launched tournaments in the Indian cricketing scene is the Indian Premier League, known more popularly as the IPL.

Launched in the year 2007 by the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI), the Indian Premier League is a Twenty20 league that is played by ten teams from seven Indian cities and three Indian states and it has become nothing short of an annual spectacle.

IPL matches have made their way into the realm of fantasy cricket too, and players can build their teams for an upcoming IPL game.

Based on the performance of the selected players, the participant will earn points and stand to win prizes too. To know more about how to play fantasy cricket, click on the link. 

Since the first IPL match was played in 2008, numerous players have displayed their exemplary bowling skills.

Bowling in IPL matches is fairly challenging as in Twenty20 matches, the game proceeds at a fast pace and batsmen are all the more prepared to score as many runs as they can.

However, some bowlers have, through their skill and talent, managed to limit the total number of runs scored by the opposing team. Here are some of the best bowlers in the history of the Indian Premier League…

Best Bowlers in The History of IPL

Here are our picks for the best bowlers in the history of IPL:

1. Jasprit Bumrah 

One of the best bowlers in the Indian cricket team, Jasprit Bumrah is a cricketer who plays every format of the sport.

He made his debut at the age of 19, and became a sensation in no time after having finished with a score of 3/32 against Royal Challengers Bangalore in his debut game in the IPL.

Even though he participated in very few matches in the 2013 Indian Premier League tournament, he eventually became an asset to his team, namely Mumbai Indians.

Jasprit Bumrah has played a total of 106 games and has taken 130 wickets, with an economy of 7.41. 

2. Lasith Malinga

Lasith Malinga is a former cricketer from Sri Lanka who has been widely hailed as one of the best limited-overs bowlers in the history of cricket.

He is a right-arm fast bowler and is famously known for his death bowling and his uniquely recognizable round-arm action.

His performance in the 2011 Indian Premier League matches earned him the Purple Cap for having taken the most wickets in the tournament, an impressive 28 in the 16 games he played in that season.

Lasith Malinga has played for Mumbai Indians since the year 2008, and he has made a name for himself as the leading bowler in the IPL for his wicket-taking abilities.

He picked up the 100th wicket in his IPL career in the year 2013 against Kings XI Punjab in a league stage match. He then became the first-ever bowler to have taken 100 wickets in the history of the Indian Premier League.

3. Ishant Sharma

Ishant Sharma holds the fifth rank on the list of the best bowlers in the Indian Premier League. While playing for the Deccan Chargers in the year 2011, Ishant Sharma thrilled spectators to clock an almost effortless victory against the Kochi Tuskers.

He picked up five wickets and conceded only 12 runs in the game. The pace bowler dismissed several players, such as Parthiv Patel, Brad Hodge, Kedar Jadhav, Mahela Jayawardene, and Raiphi Gomez.

He went on to reduce Kochi to 11 for 6 down following four overs chasing a relatively underwhelming total of 130 runs. Subsequently, Ishant Sharma was conferred with the ‘Player of the Match’ award.

4. Dwayne Bravo

Dwayne Bravo is a right-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-fast bowler who is also one of the finest all-rounders in the history of cricket.

Dwayne Bravo is particularly well known for his fierce batting skills in the lower order. At his pinnacle, he was regarded as one of the best performing death bowlers in Twenty20 matches.

Dwayne Bravo belonged to the Mumbai Indians for the first three seasons of the Indian Premier League, following which he was taken in by the Chennai Super Kings during the auctions for the 2011 season of the IPL.

He is one of the two players to have won two Purple Caps in the history of the Indian Premier League.

5. Ravichandran Ashwin

Ravichandran Ashwin, known more popularly as R Ashwin, is a cricketer who has represented the Indian national cricket team in numerous overseas matches.

He plays for the Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League and is a right-arm off-break spin bowler. He became the third Indian player to win the ICC Cricketer of the Year award in the year 2016 and is also hailed as one of the best spin bowlers in the history of the sport.

His performance during the 2010 edition of the Indian Premier League where he played for the Chennai Super Kings made him one of the icons of bowling in the history of the IPL. 

Read More:

• Top 10 Biggest and Longest Sixes in IPL History
• Who is the Most Dangerous Batsman in the IPL?
• Who is the King of IPL: 5 Players Who Compete for this Title!
• Who is called Mr. IPL and Why?
• IPL 2023 schedule and PDF download

Conclusion

These are just a few of the best bowlers in the history of IPL who have shown exemplary performance on the pitch, cementing their position in the archives of the game of cricket.

As more young talent joins the ranks of various IPL teams, there is no doubt that more names shall become part of the list in the future. One can safely say that there are exciting times ahead!