The IPL has been a stage for some of the greatest and match-winning bowling spells since its first edition in 2008 to date.
They say T20 is a bowlers' game. The team with a better bowling unit trumps the opposition irrespective of the batting might they possess. In a T20 game, each bowler gets a maximum of 24 deliveries to create magic on the field. The good ones rarely fail. In this article, we will talk about the bowlers with the most IPL wickets in history.
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Most IPL wickets leaderboard
Some of the top-notch bowlers or bowling all-rounders like Dwayne Bravo, Morne Morkel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohit Sharma, Kagiso Rabada, Imran Tahir and Harshal Patel have all shown their mettle and awarded with purple caps on different IPL editions. Out of these, Dwayne Bravo (2013 and 2015) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2016 and 2017) are the only bowlers who wore Purple Cap twice.
| Player Name | Wickets | Overs | Runs | Best Figures |
| Dwayne John Bravo | 183 | 519.5 | 4360 | 4/22 |
| Yuzvendra Singh Chahal | 177 | 496 | 3781 | 5/40 |
| Lasith Malinga | 170 | 471.1 | 3365 | 5/13 |
| Amit Mishra | 169 | 546.5 | 4017 | 5/17 |
| Ravichandran Ashwin | 163 | 670 | 4673 | 4/34 |
Furthermore, bowlers like Lasith Malinga, Amit Mishra, Ravichandran Ashwin, Michael Starc, Sunil Narine, and Piyush Chawla performed consistently and grabbed abundant wickets for their franchises over time. Let's take a closer look at the IPL wickets leaderboard:
1. Dwayne Bravo – 183 wickets
One of the best bowlers of death overs, the Trinidadian all-rounder Dwayne Bravo tops the list of most IPL wickets in history so far. Playing for Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Gujarat Lions (GL) and Mumbai Indians (MI), Bravo claimed 183 wickets. In 161 IPL matches, he conceded 4360 runs from 519.5 overs, with an economy of 8.38. His bowling average is 23.82 and his strike rate is 17.0.
Out of 183 wickets, he has taken 140 wickets playing for CSK from 116 matches. He bagged 26 wickets playing for MI and 17 wickets wearing Gujarat Lions jersey.
Bravo has claimed 4-wicket hauls twice with the best bowling figures of 4 for 22. In 2013, he took record 32 wickets playing for CSK, which was the most wickets by any bowler in a single IPL edition then. Currently, he jointly holds it with Harshal Patel (32 wickets in IPL 2021).
Bravo has recently taken retirement from IPL in December 2022, which leaves some scope for other players on the list to move up the ladder.
3. Yuzvendra Chahal – 177 wickets
Royal Challenger Bangalore’s prime spinner, Yuzi Chahal is the second on the list with 177 wickets, just 6 behind Bravo. In IPL so far, Chahal has taken 4 or more wickets on four occasions.
Overall, Chahal played 136 IPL matches, and in 496 overs conceded 3781 runs with an economy of 7.62. His bowling average is 21.36, and his strike rate is 16.8. He played 22 IPL games for RR, and claimed 38 wickets, while he played just 1 game for MI. He played the most games for RCB – 113 and accumulated 139 wickets.
In 2022, Yuzi was bought by Rajasthan Royals, and he took 22 wickets for RR which is also his personal best in a single IPL edition. In the match against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on 18 April 2022, Chahal’s hat-trick awarded Rajasthan a narrow win in a big run-chase game.
3. Lasith Malinga – 170 wickets
Popularly known as “Slinga Malinga”, Separamadu Lasith Malinga is undoubtedly one of the best bowlers of limited-over cricket. With 170 wickets out of 122 IPL matches, Malinga is third on the list of the most IPL wickets. His average is just under 20 and his strike rate is 16.6. In 471.1 overs. Malinga conceded 3365 runs with an economy of 7.14.
With the pace and perfect Yorkers won plenty of matches for Mumbai Indians, the only IPL franchise he had been associated with. He has claimed 4 wickets in an inning on six occasions and he claimed 5 wickets haul once. The best bowling figure is 5-13.
Malinga gave his best performance in 2011 as he took 28 wickets from 16 matches. He took 20 or more wickets in four different calendar years. In IPL 2019 final against CSK, Malinga took a wicket off the last ball, as MI lifted their fourth IPL trophy.
4. Amit Mishra – 169 wickets
Amit Mishra is just 1 place below Malinga in the list of the most successful bowlers in the IPL. Playing since the first IPL edition, Mishra took 160 wickets from 156 matches, at an average of 23.76. He conceded 4017 runs from 546.5 overs with an Economy of 7.34, and his strike rate is 19.4. Amit Mishra took 4 wickets in an inning four times, and he also has one five wickets haul.
Over years, he has played for Deccan Chargers, Delhi Capitals, Delhi Daredevils, Lucknow Super Giants and Sunrisers Hyderabad. In the last three IPL seasons, Mishra has not been in action much, with just 12 wickets from just 9 matches. His most successful year was 2013 when he took 21 wickets at an average of 18.76.
In IPL 2013, Mishra took a hat-trick playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad against Pune Warriors India to become the first player in IPL history to take three hat-tricks. Previously, he took hat-tricks in 2008 and 2011, playing for Delhi Daredevils and Deccan Chargers respectively.
5. Ravichandran Ashwin – 163 Wickets
One of India's all-time great spin bowlers, Ravichandran Ashwin, is currently fifth on the list with 163 wickets from 189 matches which he claimed at an average of 28.66. He bowled 670 overs in IPL and gave away 4673 runs with the Economy of 6.97. His strike rate is 24.6, and his best bowling figure is 4-34.
R Ashwin played for franchises like Chennai Super Kings, Delhi Capitals, Kings XI Punjab, Rajasthan Royals and Rising Pune Supergiants. Wearing CSK jersey, from 2008 to 2015, he played 97 matches and took 90 wickets. Currently, he is associated with Rajasthan Royals.
Ashwin is the second off-spinner after Harbhajan Singh to attain a milestone of 150 wickets in the history of IPL.
Last Updated: 06/09/24
