IPL 2020: Predicting 5 bowlers who could win the Purple Cap
IPL is generally about big-hitting and high-scoring games, but it’s the bowlers who make the decisive impact eventually. It has hardly happened over the years that a bowler with the Purple Cap hasn’t been able to drive his team into the playoffs of the IPL.
The Indian pitches are considered to be spinner-friendly as most of the surfaces are low, slow and offer a fair bit of turn. But in the 12 editions of the IPL so far, only two spinners have won the Purple Cap.
Former Indian left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha did it in the third edition of the tournament in 2010, while South African leggie Imran Tahir took the honors in the previous edition in 2019.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar is the only bowler in the history of the IPL to win the Purple Cap twice. The right-arm medium pacer did it in consecutive seasons in 2016 and 2017, while playing for the Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Here are the 5 players who can win the Purple Cap in IPL 2020:
#5 Mohammed Shami
Mohammed Shami has not had a great deal of success in the IPL so far, despite him being one of the mainstays of India’s bowling line-up in all formats in recent times. However, this might be Shami’s year in the IPL, given the rich vein of form he is in currently.
Because of the way he presents the seam, Shami is always going to be a threat with the new ball as he can get the ball to move both ways. Recently, he showed on the tour of New Zealand that he could bowl good yorkers as well.
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Death bowling has been a bit of a weak link in Shami’s bowling in the last few years. However, he seems much improved with that aspect of his game now and might turn out to be the trump card for Kings XI Punjab in the upcoming edition of the IPL.