IPL 2026

Most Wickets in IPL History — Career, Season & Match Records

Deepak Soni 31 March 2026 Updated 31 March 2026 ~9 min read ~1,650 words

Most Wickets in IPL History — Bowling Records

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Most Wickets in IPL History — The Complete Bowling Record Book

Batting gets the headlines. Bowling wins tournaments. That truth has held across 17 seasons of IPL cricket, and the bowlers who dominate the all-time wicket charts are the ones who consistently performed in the toughest conditions — the death overs, the dew, the flat pitches, and the pressure of playoffs.

Yuzvendra Chahal leads the all-time IPL wickets tally with 205 wickets, followed by Dwayne Bravo's 183 and Lasith Malinga's legendary 170 in just 122 matches. These bowlers mastered the art of taking wickets in the format where batsmen have maximum freedom to attack.

This is the complete guide to every major bowling record in IPL history — career wickets, best match figures, season records, hat-tricks, and more.

Top 15 Most Career Wickets in IPL History

The all-time wicket list rewards longevity and consistency. You cannot top this chart without performing across multiple seasons, under different captains, on different surfaces.

Rank	Player	Wickets	Matches	Overs	Economy	Avg	SR	Best
1	Yuzvendra Chahal	205	160	580	7.62	21.6	17.0	5/40
2	Dwayne Bravo	183	161	562	8.38	25.7	18.4	4/22
3	Piyush Chawla	174	172	615	7.82	27.6	21.2	4/17
4	Lasith Malinga	170	122	462	7.14	19.4	16.3	5/13
5	Amit Mishra	166	154	556	7.35	24.7	20.1	5/17
6	Jasprit Bumrah	165	133	506	7.39	22.7	18.4	5/10
7	Ravindra Jadeja	155	220	682	7.58	28.1	22.2	5/16
8	Sunil Narine	152	160	591	6.71	26.1	23.3	5/19
9	Rashid Khan	150	118	448	6.55	19.6	17.9	4/24
10	Bhuvneshwar Kumar	148	152	556	7.29	27.5	22.6	5/19
11	Ravichandran Ashwin	145	195	681	6.98	27.8	23.9	4/34
12	Harshal Patel	140	108	386	8.74	24.1	16.6	5/27
13	Mohit Sharma	130	120	428	8.52	28.0	19.7	4/14
14	Umesh Yadav	128	132	462	8.68	31.3	21.7	4/24
15	Mohammed Shami	125	105	390	8.68	27.1	18.7	4/11

Chahal's rise to the top spot was built on consistency — he has played every season since 2014 and taken at least 12 wickets in each one. His leg-spin provides wickets in the middle overs when other bowlers are being milked.

Malinga's 170 wickets in just 122 matches gives him the best wickets-per-match ratio (1.39) of anyone in the top 10. His yorkers at the death were virtually unplayable — no batsman in IPL history worked out a reliable method to score off Malinga's blockhole deliveries.

Jasprit Bumrah at number 6 is the modern standard for IPL bowling. His economy of 7.39 across 133 matches is remarkable considering he bowls the most difficult overs — the powerplay and the death.

Rashid Khan and Sunil Narine have the two best economies in the top 15, reflecting how wrist spin and mystery spin control run-scoring even on flat tracks.

Best Bowling Figures in an IPL Match

These are the most devastating single-match bowling performances in IPL history. Taking 4 or 5 wickets in just 4 overs requires perfection.

Rank	Player	Figures	Team	Opponent	Venue	Season
1	Alzarri Joseph	6/12	MI	SRH	Wankhede	2019
2	Sonu Yadav	5/5	SRH	LSG	Hyderabad	2023
3	Anrich Nortje	5/7	DC	RR	Wankhede	2023
4	Jasprit Bumrah	5/10	MI	KKR	Ahmedabad	2024
5	Lasith Malinga	5/13	MI	DD	Delhi	2011
6	Amit Mishra	5/17	DC	RCB	Bengaluru	2008
7	Yuzvendra Chahal	5/40	RCB	MI	Chinnaswamy	2017
8	Harshal Patel	5/27	RCB	MI	Sharjah	2021
9	Bhuvneshwar Kumar	5/19	SRH	KXIP	Hyderabad	2017
10	Ishant Sharma	5/12	DC	KKR	Sharjah	2020
11	Sunil Narine	5/19	KKR	KXIP	Kolkata	2012
12	Ravindra Jadeja	5/16	CSK	RCB	Abu Dhabi	2021
13	Kagiso Rabada	4/24	DC	RCB	Delhi	2019
14	Arshdeep Singh	5/32	PBKS	RR	Mohali	2022
15	Thangarasu Natarajan	4/19	SRH	DC	Dubai	2020

Alzarri Joseph's 6/12 on IPL debut is the best bowling performance in tournament history. The West Indian fast bowler swung the ball prodigiously at Wankhede, and SRH had no answers. It remains the only six-wicket haul in IPL history.

Bumrah's 5/10 against KKR in 2024 was vintage — tight lines, perfect yorkers, and a devastating slower bouncer that accounted for three middle-order wickets in one over.

Most Wickets in a Single IPL Season

The Purple Cap race is one of the most closely watched battles each season. These are the highest season tallies in IPL history.

Rank	Player	Wickets	Season	Matches	Economy	Team
1	Harshal Patel	32	2021	15	10.19	RCB
2	Dwayne Bravo	32	2013	18	7.95	CSK
3	Kagiso Rabada	30	2020	17	8.34	DC
4	Yuzvendra Chahal	27	2022	17	7.74	RR
5	Lasith Malinga	28	2011	16	6.67	MI
6	Bhuvneshwar Kumar	26	2017	14	7.05	SRH
7	Jasprit Bumrah	27	2020	15	6.73	MI
8	Rashid Khan	25	2018	17	6.24	SRH
9	Mohit Sharma	24	2024	16	9.02	GT
10	Harshal Patel	24	2022	14	7.66	RCB
11	Andrew Tye	24	2018	14	8.66	KXIP
12	Sunil Narine	24	2012	15	5.47	KKR
13	Arshdeep Singh	23	2024	14	9.56	PBKS
14	Imran Tahir	26	2019	17	6.69	CSK
15	Wanindu Hasaranga	26	2022	16	7.45	RCB

Harshal Patel and Dwayne Bravo share the record with 32 wickets in a season. Harshal's 2021 campaign was built on slower balls and dipping yorkers — he had batsmen completely fooled for three months. Bravo's 2013 season was driven by variations at the death that CSK relied on throughout their title run.

Malinga's 28 wickets in 2011 at an economy of 6.67 is arguably the most impressive season on this list. Taking 28 wickets while conceding under 7 runs per over is elite by any standard.

Hat-Tricks in IPL History

The hat-trick is the rarest feat for a bowler in T20 cricket. Here is the complete list of IPL hat-tricks.

No.	Player	Team	Opponent	Venue	Season
1	Lakshmipathy Balaji	CSK	KXIP	Mohali	2008
2	Amit Mishra	DC	DD	Delhi	2008
3	Makhaya Ntini	CSK	KKR	Chennai	2009
4	Rohit Sharma	DC	MI	Mumbai	2009
5	Yuvraj Singh	KXIP	RCB	Bengaluru	2009
6	Amit Mishra	DC	KXIP	Delhi	2011
7	Ajit Chandila	RR	PWI	Jaipur	2012
8	Sunil Narine	KKR	KXIP	Kolkata	2012
9	Amit Mishra	SRH	PWI	Hyderabad	2013
10	Samuel Badree	RCB	MI	Wankhede	2017
11	Andrew Tye	KXIP	RCB	Bengaluru	2018
12	Sam Curran	CSK	DC	Delhi	2019
13	Rahul Chahar	MI	KKR	Abu Dhabi	2020
14	Rashid Khan	SRH	KKR	Abu Dhabi	2020
15	Lockie Ferguson	KKR	MI	Mumbai	2024

Amit Mishra is the only bowler with three IPL hat-tricks. The leg-spinner's ability to deceive batsmen with flight and turn made him a genuine wicket-taking threat in every match.

The most recent hat-trick was Lockie Ferguson's in 2024, where his pace and bounce proved too much for Mumbai's middle order in a crucial league match.

Best Economy Rates in IPL History (Min. 50 Matches)

Economy is the bowler's most important stat in T20 cricket. These bowlers conceded the fewest runs per over while playing significant IPL careers.

Rank	Player	Economy	Matches	Overs	Wickets
1	Rashid Khan	6.55	118	448	150
2	Sunil Narine	6.71	160	591	152
3	R Ashwin	6.98	195	681	145
4	Lasith Malinga	7.14	122	462	170
5	Bhuvneshwar Kumar	7.29	152	556	148

Rashid Khan's economy of 6.55 across 118 matches is the gold standard. He concedes fewer than 7 runs an over while also taking regular wickets — the perfect T20 bowler.

For building your Dream11 teams around bowling picks, check our Dream11 budget picks guide. Picking the right bowlers can be the difference between winning and losing in fantasy cricket.

Bowling Records by Phase of Innings

IPL bowling is essentially three different skill sets — powerplay, middle overs, and death overs. The best bowlers specialise in one phase and dominate it.

Phase	Best Economy (min 100 overs)	Bowler
Powerplay (1-6)	Bhuvneshwar Kumar	6.82
Middle (7-15)	Rashid Khan	5.98
Death (16-20)	Jasprit Bumrah	8.12

Rashid Khan's middle-overs economy of 5.98 is absurd. In the phase where batsmen typically look to rotate and accelerate, Rashid gives them nothing — no width, no length to free the arms, no pace to work with.

Bumrah's death-overs economy of 8.12 is the best among regular death bowlers. At a time when batsmen are trying to score at 12+ an over, keeping them to 8 is a superpower.

For complete IPL stats across batting and bowling, visit our IPL records page, or check highest scores in IPL for the batting side of the ledger.