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Bhuvneshwar Kumar (RCB)
Matches: 13, Wickets: 24, Best: 4-23
Bhuvneshwar Kumar is rolling back the years with a tournament to remember and currently leads the race for the Purple Cap with 24 wickets. This season has brought out the absolute best in the right-arm medium pacer, who has anchored his team’s bowling unit, claiming three or more wickets on six occasions in 13 matches. His 3-5 helped Royal Challengers Bengaluru register their biggest victory in terms of balls remaining (81) after rattling Delhi Capitals for just 75 all out, while the 36-year-old’s 3-27 and season’s best 4-23 played major roles in RCB’s victories after restricting Lucknow Super Giants and Mumbai Indians to 146 all out and 166-7 respectively.
Kagiso Rabada (GT)
Matches: 13, Wickets: 21, Best: 3-25
Gujarat Titans’s Kagiso Rabada has been the most destructive pacer in the Powerplay this season, putting opponents on the back foot early in the innings. So far, the right-arm pacer has claimed 16 wickets in the first six overs alone — the second-most in the Powerplay in a single IPL edition. Rabada has often single-handedly helped GT win matches by restricting opponents to under 200 in a season that has seen the most 200-plus totals (53). His 3-29 kept Kolkata Knight Riders to just 180 all out, while his season’s best 3-25 helped Chennai Super Kings manage only 158-7. Rabada’s Player-of-the-Match effort also helped GT defend 168-5 as Sunrisers Hyderabad’s big-hitting top-order surrendered to the 30-year-old’s pace, tumbling for just 86 all out in 14.5 overs.
Jofra Archer (RR)
Matches: 12, Wickets: 17, Best: 3-20
Jofra Archer has spearheaded Rajasthan Royals’s pace attack this season after claiming just 12 wickets last year. The right-armer was instrumental in his team’s easy win over RCB, dismissing opener Phil Salt for a duck off the first ball and then accounting for the wicket of Devdutt Padikkal in his next over. Archer’s biggest success this season came during his match-winning spell against LSG, where his 3-20 helped restrict them to just 119 in a chase of RR’s 159-6. In this process, Archer, who has claimed 74 wickets playing for RR, went past Shane Watson (67 wkts) to become the franchise’s all-time leading wicket-taker.
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