Top 5 bowling spells in the IPL
The Indian Premier League will return for its 11th season on April 7, with defending champions Mumbai Indians taking on arch-rivals, and two-time champions Chennai Super Kings at the Wankhede Stadium.
Inarguably the most exciting T20 league in the world, the IPL has, over the years, seen some of the most exciting and thrilling matches of all time. As with all the T20 leagues across the globe, the IPL has seen a large number of memorable batting performances by heavyweights like Chris Gayle (175 vs PWI), Brendon McCullum (158 vs RCB) and David Warner (126 vs KKR).
However, over the years, fans have witnessed some exceptional bowling spells as well, the kind of spells that turned matches on their head.
As we expect a few exceptional bowling spells in the upcoming season as well, we take a look at the 5 best spells in the 10-year history of India's premier T20 league.
#5 Jaydev Unadkat 5/25 vs DD (2013)
In the 10th season of the IPL, Jaydev Unadkat ended as the second highest wicket-taker, only behind Bhuvneshwar Kumar. His fiery bowling performances won many matches for Rising Pune Supergiant en route their near-perfect campaign. However, it was not in this fairy tale season that he bowled the most memorable spell of his IPL career. It was back in 2013 when a young Unadkat, bowling with pace and aggression, took Royal Challengers Bangalore to a victory against Delhi Daredevils.
Batting first, RCB pilled up a mammoth 183 from their 20 overs, courtesy a sensational 99 from Virat Kohli. Delhi Daredevils started the chase in an explosive manner, with both Mahela Jayawardene and Virender Sehwag hitting 8 fours between themselves. However, Unadkat dismissed both the openers within the spell of three overs to reduce them to 49/2. Delhi retaliated with Unmukt Chand and Ben Rohrer taking them close to victory.
However, Unadkat returned to remove Chand and Kedar Jadhav in the 17th over. A late surge from Irfan Pathan and Morne Morkel reduced the deficit to 19 runs in the final over. Unadkat, with figures of 4/11 in 3 overs, removed Morkel and gave away 14 runs to win the thrilling contest for RCB by just 4 runs. Finishing his 4-over spell with 5 wickets and just 25 runs, Unadkat was chosen as the Player of the Match.