Top 5 leading wicket-takers in IPL 2020 - Week 1

It has already been a week since the 13th edition of the IPL kick-started in the United Arab Emirates. Over the week we have witnessed a lot of action and this edition is already proving to be like a roller-coaster ride. After a couple of close finishes in the first two matches, we witnessed a few one-sided games. Majority of the games played this week were won by teams batting first.

The pitches in UAE haven’t been kind to the bowlers. However, the skill of the bowling line-ups along with huge boundaries in Dubai and Abu Dhabi have prevented batsmen from taking charge.

Nevertheless, matches have been extremely captivating and have come as a breath of fresh air to people craving for something positive and exciting during the pandemic. Many players like KL Rahul, Mohammed Shami, Sanju Samson, Faf Du Plessis and Kagiso Rabada have taken the stage by fire while many others have flattered to deceive.

Many matches in this week were dominated by the bowlers. Mohammed Shami, Ravi Bishnoi and Sheldon Cottrell from KXIP, Rahul Tewatia from RR, Trent Boult, James Pattinson from MI, Yuzvendra Chahal from RCB, Sam Curran and Piyush Chawla from CSK, Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje from Delhi Capitals have been particularly impressive. In this article, we will look at the top-5 wicket-takers from the first week of the league.

Here’s the list of five leading wicket-takers of IPL 2020 by the end of first week:

5. Sheldon Cottrell

The Windies’ pacer made his IPL debut this year for KXIP. Though things were looking a little bleak for him a month ago in CPL where he was out of touch, he has managed to perform well for Punjab in his first two matches. Cottrell has formed a threatening partnership with Mohammed Shami.

KXIP’s powerplay bowling has improved significantly this year and Cottrell had a huge role to play in it. In both the matches, Kings managed to scalp 3 wickets inside the first 6 overs. In the first match, he dismissed Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin in the slog overs and kept them quiet.

In the next match against RCB, he was again impressive as he dismissed their prodigy Devdutt Padikkal in his first over and the skipper, Virat Kohli, in his next. He finished with figures of 3-0-17-2. As of now, he has 4 wickets to his name and is at the fifth number in the race for purple cap.

4. Yuzvendra Chahal

The wily leggie from Haryana has been one of the most consistent performers for the Bangalore-based outfit. For the past few years, he has led RCB’s spin bowling department and scripted many wins for his team. This year too, he has been their most impressive bowler, establishing control over the game in middle overs.

In the first match against Sunrisers Hyderabad, he single-handedly turned the match on its head by scalping two successive wickets in his last over. He dismissed the well-set Jonny Bairstow and newly-arrived Vijay Shankar off consecutive balls to shift the balance is his team’s favour. He also dismissed Manish Pandey early in the innings, who was forming a good partnership with Bairstow.

In his next match against Kings XI Punjab, he was again ‘pick of the bowlers’ as he finished with 4-0-25-1. He made early inroads by dismissing Punjab’s first match hero Mayank Agarwal. However, he didn’t get much support from other bowlers which allowed Punjab to post a mammoth score on board. He has 4 wickets to his name and is fourth on the highest wicket-takers list as of now.

3. Mohammed Shami

There was a time when Shami was typecast as an ODI and Test bowler, unsuitable for the batsmen-friendly T20 cricket. His average numbers in IPL and lack of International T20 experience didn’t help his cause either. However, since then he has improved a lot and is now being regarded as a beast in the shortest format of cricket.

He has looked absolutely threatening in the two games he has played. He breathed fire in the powerplay against Delhi Capitals as he sent Prithvi Shaw and Shimron Hetmyer back to the pavilion cheaply. He came back later to dismiss captain Shreyas Iyer who was threatening to take the game away.

The next match against Royal Challengers Bangalore witnessed an inspired bowling performance by the Kings XI Punjab as they bowled Kohli’s team out for a paltry 109. Shami was particularly impressive as he scalped the wicket of Josh Philippe early on in the innings, trapping him in front of the wicket. Shami has 4 wickets to his name and is third on the list of highest wicket-takers for the first week.

2. Sam Curran

The youngster from England is second on the list with 5 wickets from 3 matches. After plying his trade for Kings XI Punjab last year, he was bought by Chennai Super Kings and so far, he has managed to deliver the goods. In a line-up that boasts of bowlers like Deepak Chahar, Piyush Chawla, Josh Hazlewood and Lungi Ngidi, he has been their standout performer.

In the very first match against Mumbai Indians, he scalped the wicket of Quinton de Kock, who was going quite strong at 33. He conceded only 28 runs in the match and hence, helped in curbing the run-flow as well. In the next match against Rajasthan Royals, he was the star performer as he managed to dismiss 3 batsmen in the match. He claimed wickets of the skipper Steve Smith, Rahul Tewatia and Riyan Parag.

Against Delhi Capitals, the younger Curran brother was impeccable in the death overs as he stopped the run-flow and managed to entrap the Capitals’ skipper Shreyas Iyer. He finished with figures of 4-0-27-1 and got the purple cap before Rabada surpassed him in the next innings.

1. Kagiso Rabada

The express pacer from South Africa continued from where he left off in the last season. Playing for the Delhi Capitals again, he has been their standout bowler in the first two games. In the first game, the speedster kept things tight and ensured that the game didn’t slip away whilst taking two wickets in the process.

He scalped the wickets important wickets of Glenn Maxwell and Krishnappa Gowtham during the match and dismissed KL Rahul and Nicholas Pooran in the super over whilst conceding only 2 runs. He followed up this performance with a 3-fer against 3-time champions Chennai Super Kings to take his total tally to 5.

Similar to the first match, he kept things tight in the match and kept the Chennai Super Kings batsmen at bay. He took two wickets in his last over when the batsmen were trying to decrease the margin of defeat. He scalped the wickets of Faf du Plessis, MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja.