IPL 2017: Best bowlers of each franchise

The Indian Premier League is heading towards its tenth season. All teams are busy building strategies and assigning roles to each member of the squad. Last-minute injuries to star cricketers are making headlines these days and the think-tanks of each franchise will be pondering over their best possible Playing XI. The replacements for the injured players will be announced in the lead up to the first game and teams will have to tinker their strategies just a wee bit.

While the slam-bang version of cricket is mostly batsman dominated; bowlers are also crucial to a team’s chances. It is a myth that T20 is a batsman dominated game as bowlers too have a significant role in the shortest format of the game. There have been a number of bowlers who have been exceptionally well consistently in the history of the IPL. So here is a list of the best bowlers in the ranks of each franchise:

Mumbai Indians: Lasith Malinga

The Sri Lankan star is the most successful bowler in the history of the IPL accounting for 143 wickets in the league so far. Since IPL’s inception in 2008, Malinga has always featured in the Mumbai Indians ranks. He bowls pinpoint yorkers and has recently developed an equally threatening off-cutter. With age catching up on him, Malinga had an injury-ridden 2016, which didn’t allow him to participate in last season’s IPL.  A fit again Malinga is ready to torment the batsmen and will be crucial to the Mumbai Indians campaign.

Malinga has taken part in 7 seasons so far and has never taken less than 15 wickets in nay season. He has been super consistent and is indispensible to his team. The two-time IPL champion ranks second only to Dwayne Bravo, in the all-time wicket takers in Twenty20 cricket with 306 wickets. An economy rate of 6.70 also suggests that he is a thinking bowler who doesn’t give many runs.

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Tymal Mills

When Tymal Mills bowled his first ball in India – a back of a length 90 miles an hour delivery which hurried Virat Kohli and hit him near his MRF sticker, he vindicated his reputation of a T20 specialist; yet not many people thought he would bag a whooping 12 crore price in the auction next month, including Mills himself. Ironically, he was acquired by RCB, a franchise led by Kohli himself and immediately a lot is expected from him. Mills has a deceptive slower ball – which comes out of the back-of-the-hand and is a lot slower than his usual fiery pace. The unique aspect of his back-of-the-hand delivery is that the seam stays upright ergo; the batsmen struggle to pick it.

Injuries have consigned Mills to just T20 cricket and he now plays in various leagues around the world. He brings a lot of experience and pace to the table. With Starc pulling out in this year’s IPL, Mills is expected to lead the RCB attack and he is more than capable of doing that.