IPL 2023: Bowlers with most dot balls in IPL history

In a tournament like IPL, it is important to have bowlers on your side who can control the run flow of the opposition. Batting teams generally accelerate their innings in the death overs and have a high scoring rate in the powerplay as well. Whereas in the middle overs it is seen that teams are often cautious in approach, and focus on stabilizing the innings.

This is the reason why most dot balls occur in the middle overs, while it is a rarity in the last few overs. In this article, we will be discussing the performance of 5 bowlers who have bowled most dot balls in the history of the tournament.

The first name on this  list is Bhuvneshwar Kumar had to face some injury issues in recent years which impacted his availability for the SRH squad, and his performance as well. He has bowled 1593 dot balls in the tournament and the Indian pacer has picked up 170 wickets in 160 innings at an average of 25.85 and an economy of 7.39.

Ravichandran Ashwin is at the second spot in this list with 1517 dot balls in 194 innings. He has an impressive economy of 7.01 in the league and has picked up one 4-wicket haul as well. Ashwin captained the Punjab franchise for two seasons and played for Delhi Capitals in the 2020 and 2021 seasons and he his currently Playing for Rajasthan Royals. He has taken 171 wickets in 194 innings with an average of 28.66.

Sunil Narine has been a vital cog of the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) team ever since making his IPL debut in 2012. He is Third in the list for bowling 1504 dot balls in the history of IPL. So far, Narine has taken 163 wickets in 161 innings so far. 

The fourth name on this list is Harbhajan Singh, who has delivered 1312 dot balls in IPL in 160 innings. He has taken 150 wickets at an economy of 7.07 in the cash-rich league. This includes one 4-wicket haul and one 5-wicket haul as well. Bhajji played for Mumbai Indians for the most part of his career and featured for Chennai Super Kings for few seasons as well. In IPL 2021, he was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders in the mini-auction at his base price. 

Piyush Chawla who is considered the greatest bowler of IPL history has 1293 dot balls to his name in the tournament. He holds the record for taking the third most wickets (179) in the cash-rich league at an economy of 7.90 and an average of 26.79.

Most Dot Balls in IPL History

*Last updated on 30th May, 2023.