IPL 2020: 5 dark horses who could win the Purple Cap for the first time
The 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is scheduled to commence on the 19th of September, and teams have reportedly begun preparations for the highly anticipated tournament.
Although the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) will take place before the IPL, the world's biggest franchise league will be the first experience of top-level cricketing action in months for most players involved. With the batsmen likely to take time to get used to conditions in the UAE, the bowlers can be expected to capitalise on their rust to scalp a healthy amount of wickets.
Purple Cap winners in the IPL
Over the years, many T20 legends like Lasith Malinga and Dwayne Bravo have won the Purple Cap, which is the accolade given to the leading wicket-taker in a season.
In the 2019 edition of the IPL, CSK's Imran Tahir became only the second spinner to win the Purple Cap.
Apart from the usual suspects, we take a look at 5 dark horses who could win the Purple Cap in the 2020 IPL.
#5 Mohammed Shami
Kings XI Punjab's pace attack will heavily rely on the services of India international Mohammed Shami, and the onus will be on the pacer to lead the otherwise inexperienced (at the IPL level) bowling lineup.
After picking up 0, 1, 7, 5, 5, and 3 wickets in his first 6 IPL campaigns, Shami finally made his presence felt in the 2019 edition of the tournament, finishing with 19 wickets from 14 games. Although his career economy rate of 8.99 is very high, the 29-year-old will be entrusted with the important overs of the innings and is guaranteed to take wickets.
Shami's IPL career has been highly average thus far, but he is a certain dark horse in the race for the Purple Cap.