IPL 2023: Top 10 bowling performances from group stage

The excitement of the Indian Premier League's group-stage matches has come to an end. We have seen neck-to-neck battles between bat and bowl. A format dominated mostly by the batters has seen some exemplary bowling from bowlers.

In this day and age, when 200+ scores aren't safe anymore; the onus comes on the bowlers to come into play and do the hard yards. Bowlers mostly have to bowl on flat tracks and the margin of error is so less for them that a slight change of line and length can cost a boundary. They have to maintain accuracy and stay one step ahead of the batters. 

The group stage of the IPL 2023 saw some phenomenal bowling performances from numerous bowlers. Bowlers from across franchises gave their absolute best to win games for their respective sides. As the group stage matches have come to an end let's look at the top bowling performances from the same:

10. Wayne Parnell 3/10 vs Rajasthan Royals

After waiting for nine long years, Wayne Parnell had a decent outing in this year's IPL. The Proteas pacer was roped in as a replacement earlier this season for Reece Topley. Had Josh Hazelwood been fit, Parnell wouldn't have played match no. 60 against Rajasthan Royals. 

In an important match against RR, Royal Challengers Bangalore set up a target of 172 against the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson. RCB skipper Faf du Plessis demanded early breakthroughs from Parnell and he provided the same. In his first over itself, he had two big fishes in his pocket. The wickets of Jos Buttler and Sanju Samson made the crowd silent. He got proper support from his bowling partner Mohammed Siraj. 

He kept things simple, keeping the line and length wicket to wicket. Forcing the batter to go after him was his plan. Batters fell for it, but his ball to dismiss Joe Root was special. He trapped Joe, Leg Before Wicket (LBW) when the former was batting on 10. He reduced RR to 28/5 and from there on they couldn't recover. Eventually, they lost the match by a big margin and Parnell was awarded the Player of the match.