In the shortest format of the game, more often than not, the bowlers are the ones who have the toughest time, especially when one of the venues is as small as Sharjah. Irrespective, bowlers have never backed down and brought their A game to the occasion and troubled more than a few good batsmen.
As we close out IPL 2020, here’s a look back at some of the best bowling performances during this unique season.
Mohammed Shami vs DC – 3/15 (Match 2)
KXIP were always going to depend on Shami to lead the bowling attack for them and in their first game, Shami did some damage with the new ball as he removed Prithvi Shaw and Shimron Hetmyer cheaply to leave Delhi reeling.
Shami then picked the wicket of captain Shreyas Iyer and took a catch to help dismiss R Ashwin as DC could only manage 157.
However, the game went into a super over and DC came up with the trumps.
Yuzvendra Chahal vs SRH – 3/18 (Match 3)
The leg-spinner has been one of Virat Kohli’s go to bowlers whenever he needs a wicket in white ball cricket and very early in IPL 2020, Chahal stamped his authority over the Sunrisers Hyderabad batting.
Chahal bamboozled the rampaging Jonny Bairstow first before cleaning up his India teammate Vijay Shankar off the very next delivery to swing the game in RCB’s favour, as SRH collapsed.
Before the two mesmerising deliveries that disturbed the woodwork, Chahal had Manish Pandey’s scalp as the batsman looked to take him on and holed out to Navdeep Saini. However, it was the wickets of Bairstow and Shankar that really set them on course for a win and Chahal for the player of the match award.
Kagiso Rabada vs RCB – 4/24 (Match 19)
As always, Delhi Capitals were benefitting from the South Africa pacer’s incredible form and in Match 19, the Royal Challengers Bangalore were on the wrong end of a scintillating performance.
RCB needed 197 and Virat Kohli was settling in well before Rabada decided to take charge for DC. Once Kohli was back in the hut, Rabada cranked up the pace further and accounted for Washington Sundar, Shivam Dube and Isuru Udana in the space of four deliveries to put the seal on a well-deserved win.
DC were building some good momentum with Rabada leading the charge for them.
Jasprit Bumrah vs RR – 4/20 (Match - 20)
The ace bowler had not had a very good start to the tournament but against Rajasthan Royals, who were flying high early on, Bumrah put in a top performance to get himself going. Bumrah began his day with the important wicket of Steve Smith before coming back to dismiss the dangerous Rahul Tewatia cheaply.
With the game almost in the bag, Bumrah accounted for Jofra Archer, who was finding the boundary with relative ease and then rounded off his evening with the scalp of Ankit Rajpoot. The defending champions, traditionally slow starters, rode Bumrah’s brilliance to register a contrasting start to their journey.
Jofra Archer vs DC – 3/19 (Match 30)
Much like Rashid Khan and Kagiso Rabada, Jofra Archer is one of the overseas performers who you cannot miss. A peach off the first delivery had Prithvi Shaw walking back and Ajinkya Rahane followed suit soon after. Delhi’s Shikhar Dhawan and Shreyas Iyer put them back on track with half centuries before Archer accounted for the big hitting Marcus Stoinis in the death overs.
Unfortunately, Archer’s efforts weren’t enough for Rajasthan as they fell short by 13 runs.
Chris Morris vs RR – 4/26 (Match 33)
One of the more impactful inclusions in the RCB side, when he became available, the South African added much needed bite to the bowling.
The Royals with Ben Stokes in the line up were hoping to put up a big score against the likes of Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, but Morris dismissed the big guns – Stokes, Jos Buttler and Steve Smith – before any of them could really take them apart.
The telling blows pegged back the Royals, setting it up for the ABD show after that.
Morris finished with the scalp of Jofra Archer and also had a hand in dismissing the dangerous Sanju Samson.
Trent Boult vs CSK – 4/18 (Match – 41)
The Kiwi pacer along with Bumrah were on song, causing the Chennai Super Kings to crumble under pressure. CSK fell to 3 for 4 in the third over, the second-lowest score at four wickets down in IPL. Boult struck in his first two overs and then took one more wicket in the powerplay, and ended the CSK innings by getting his fourth for a career-best of 4 for 18 in the IPL.
Boult dismissed Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ambati Rayudu first before Ravindra Jadeja became his third wicket. Sam Curran, who had fought his way to a half century, was the Kiwi pacer’s fourth in a performance that won him the Player of the Match Award in Sharjah.
Varun Chakravarthy vs DC – 5/20 (Match – 42)
From being an architect previously and almost having quit cricket, Varun Chakravarthy turned out to be one of the brightest sparks in the Kolkata Knight Riders’ season with his mysterious spin.
On 24 October, he became the first bowler this season to bag a five-for. His 5/20 against the rampaging Delhi Capitals was also the first such for KKR since Sunil Narine did it eight years ago.
The right arm spinner accounted for Rishabh Pant and Shimron Hetmyer with wrong’uns before Shreyas Iyer fell to the carrom ball. A leg-cutter got rid of Marcus Stoinis, while another wrong’un breached Axar Patel’s defence.
His superb spell not only helped KKR win by 59 runs but also earned him a maiden India call-up for the T20 series in Australia.
Rashid Khan vs DC – 3/7 (Match 47)
A check on the best bowling performances in the IPL cannot miss out the ace leg spinner Rashid Khan. Sunrisers Hyderabad have done well every time Rashid has been on song. And similarly did brilliantly against Delhi Capitals, who were in a lean patch.
Coming into bowl in the seventh over, in the second innings when Delhi were 54/2, Rashid scalped his first wicket of the night by bowling Shimron Hetmyer out on his very first delivery. He followed that up with the wickets of Ajinkya Rahane and Axar Patel and bowled an incredible 17 dots in his spell.
In the two teams’ previous encounter in IPL 2020, Rashid finished with figures of 3/13, which makes his combined figures stand at 6/20 from eight overs.
Pat Cummins vs RR – 4/34 (Match – 52)
Backs to the wall in terms of staying alive, KKR needed their most expensive bowler to turn up with the goods. Cummins, who took a tonking off the first five deliveries of the first over, sent Robin Uthappa packing to set off the Rajasthan Royals’ collapse.
Next up was Ben Stokes, with a little help from the flying Dinesh Karthik and a few deliveries later, his Australian teammate Steve Smith was cleaned up. Cummins finished off the scalp of Riyan Parag, all but putting the game out of the Royals’ reach.
As good as he was on the day, KKR’s management would not be blamed for wondering where this edition of Cummins was in the first half of the tournament.
*Here’s one scintillating performance from the first game of the Playoffs in IPL 2020.
Jasprit Bumrah vs DC – 4/14 (Qualifier 1)
Once the knockouts rolled on, Mumbai started to look menacing as expected and the heart of it all was Jasprit Bumrah.
While Boult struck twice in the first over, Bumrah followed that up with the big scalp of Shikhar Dhawan with an inch perfect yorker of the second delivery of his first over. Soon after, he invited the drive from Shreyas Iyer with Rohit Sharma perfectly placed at cover to pluck it out of thin air. Bumrah had set Mumbai on course for the final or so it seemed before Marcus Stoinis gave them an almighty scare.
Once again, as has been the norm of sorts with the Mumbai Indians, Rohit turned to Bumrah who produced a double wicket maiden, taking the wickets of Stoinis and Daniel Sams to all but seal their spot in yet another final.
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