IPL 2019: Best economy rates in IPL history
The Indian Premier League invites some of the finest bowling talents around the world. Having a bowler who can prevent the opposition batsmen from scoring runs is one of the biggest assets in the shortest format of the game.
Over the years there have been many talented bowlers who had superb economy rates in IPL. Glenn McGrath, Anil Kumble, Muttiah Muralitharan, Daniel Vettori, and Johan Botha are a few of these names. However, almost all of these players have retired from all forms of the game or they played in the IPL for only a few seasons.
In this article, however, we aim to filter out and analyze the Top 3 best-performing bowlers in IPL history, taking the criteria that they have played a minimum of 80 matches.
#3 Ravichandran Ashwin (IPL Matches - 125, Economy rate - 6.72)
Ravichandran Ashwin has a brilliant record for both the national team and the IPL teams he has played for. The off-break bowler from Tamil Nadu played for Chennai Super Kings from 2008 to 2015 and then the Rising Pune Supergiant for the 2016 and 2017 editions.
The 32-year-old has been with the Kings XI Punjab since the 2018 season. He was retained ahead of the 2019 edition for a massive ₹ 7.6 crores. Popular for his carrom ball, Ashwin's IPL and international career has witnessed a slight dip in the past few years.
The lanky bowler has an overall 110 wickets in 125 matches in the IPL at an economy rate of 6.73 and a strike rate of 23.58. His performance in the previous edition was lacklustre as per his standards as he clinched just 10 wickets in 14 matches at an average of 41.00. The 2018 edition was also the first time Ashwin had an economy rate in excess of 8.
He even suffered a few niggles in India's previous two away tours -- in England and Australia. The versatile spinner still has plenty of years of cricket left in him and should come back strongly. An impressive outing in the 2019 IPL may just put him back in the reckoning for a spot in the World Cup.
Also Read: IPL 2019 Purple Cap: Top 10 bowlers in the 2018 IPL season