IPL: 5 Bowlers Who Have Taken Most Wickets In Powerplay: It is a known fact that the earlier a wicket is taken, the better it is for the bowling team; in T20s, it is statistically proven that taking 3-4 wickets in the powerplay has resulted in a lot more wins than losses.
But, snapping out wickets in the first six overs, with the new ball, requires special skill: swing and seam the ball just enough so that the batsman cannot middle it, but also that the ball doesn’t miss the edge.
Talking about the IPL, we have seen some great bowling performances and matches being decided right in the powerplay itself.
Today, we look at the 5 most successful, the top-wicket takers in the powerplay in the IPL:
Bhuvneshwar Kumar – 54
It is no surprise that Bhuvneshwar Kumar is right up at the top in this list – for the 32-year-old is arguably India’s best pacer with the new ball having the elite skillset of swinging the balls both ways and also attracting seam movement from the surface while sticking with the tough channel of line and length.
Bhuvneshwar, who has played for RCB, Pune and SRH in the IPL, has taken 154 wickets in the IPL and 54 of which have come in the powerplay, the most by an bowler; he has an economy of 5.94 in the powerplay!
Sandeep Sharma – 53
Known for having an edge over Virat Kohli, Sandeep Sharma’s in swing and out swing is amongst the most threatning one in the IPL. The Punjab Kings pacer, who has also featured for SRH in the past, has nipped out 53 wickets in the powerplay in the IPL out of his total 114 wickets.
Umesh Yadav – 53
Apart from swinging the ball in both side, Umesh Yadav also has high pace which makes one of the deadliest pacers with the new ball, however, his poor death bowling skills mean that captains have been forced to finish his overs earlier.
Nonetheless, Umesh has also taken 53 wickets in his IPL career wherein he’s taken overall 135 wickets having represented Delhi, KKR and RCB in the 14 seasons since 2009.
Zaheer Khan – 52
Quite easily India greatest left-arm seamer and one of the best the country has produced, Zaheer Khan led India’s bowling attack for over a decade and helped the country win the 2011 World Cup.
In his IPL career, spanning from 2008 to 2017, Zaheer donned jerseys of Mumbai Indians, RCB and Delhi, taking a total of 102 wickets – 52 of which were in the first six overs.
Ravichandran Ashwin – 46
A really astute cricketer, Ravichandran Ashwin is one of the few spinners who have excelled bowling in the powerplay in the IPL. Apart from the off-spinner and top-spinner, a finger’s spinner’s main deliveries, Ashwin has a coterie of variatuons inclunding the carrom ball and as he as also in recent years learned the leg-spinner so that he isn’t bogged down by the negative match-up of bowling to a right-hander.
Ashwin spent his first 8 seasons at CSK, then couple of seasons with RPSG; then he was roped in by Punjab Kings as their captain for a couple of years, following which he spent another couple of seasons with Delhi. This year he was bought by Rajasthan Royals.
Ashwin, who has takne a total of 157 IPL wickets, has 46 powerplay scalps to his name.
