Most wickets by Indian bowlers in an IPL season

In the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021, Harshal Patel has been at the top of his game, as evidenced by his statistics. The right-arm bowler has made the ball talk and taken wickets at all phases of the game while playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). Patel, unlike the majority of the tournament’s elite fast bowlers, does not prefer to set the speed gun on fire.

Instead, he depends on his precision and variety to outshine the batters. Patel has been particularly impressive in the late innings of games when batsmen try to rack up runs quickly. As a result, in his first 11 appearances, he has taken 26 wickets. He’s also the proud owner of the purple cap, and he’ll almost certainly finish the tournament as the leading wicket-taker.

After all, Avesh Khan, the second-leading wicket-taker, has only 18 wickets to his name. Meanwhile, on Wednesday (September 29), Patel made history by becoming the first uncapped bowler to take the most wickets in an IPL season. He now has 26 wickets in the IPL 2021 after a three-wicket haul against Rajasthan Royals. Patel’s 23 wickets in the 2014 tournament surpassed those of his RCB counterpart Yuzvendra Chahal.

Not to mention, the competition is still ongoing, so it will be intriguing to watch how far he progresses. Patel’s three wickets came in the very final over of the first innings, which speaks much about his performance against RR. His first victim was Riyan Parag. Virat Kohli was given catching practise at extra cover after the kid couldn’t connect with his off-cutter.

Patel dismissed Chris Morris in the following ball after the Proteas star failed to clear the ropes and was caught by Devdutt Padikkal at deep extra cover. Despite failing to complete a hat-trick, the pacer removed Chetan Sakariya with the final ball. AB de Villiers accepted the catch after the RR pacer was unable to send Patel’s slower delivery to the long-boundary.

Most wickets by an Indian bowler in an IPL season:

Patel, meanwhile, has the joint-second most wickets of any Indian bowler in an IPL season with 26. In the 2017 edition, Bhuvneshwar Kumar took the same number of wickets. During the season, he was also awarded the purple cap. Jasprit Bumrah, who took 27 wickets last season, is currently in the first place. Harbhajan Singh and Jaydev Unadkat are the top two bowlers on the list, with 24 wickets each in the 2013 and 2017 editions.