Chennai Super Kings (CSK) bowler Tushar Deshpande has been having an amazing Indian Premier League season (IPL) with the Super Kings this year.
So far, he has taken 19 wickets in 11 matches and is the joint-top wicket-taker in the tournament, with a strong chance of getting the Purple Cap by the time the season ends. However, an interesting trend can be seen within his 19 dismissals so far.
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Here's a breakdown of Deshpande's wickets this IPL season.
Breaking down Tushar Deshpande's 19 IPL wickets
When one looks at the batsmen whose wickets Deshpande has taken so far this IPL season, one can see that most of the batsmen either belong to the top-order or middle-order of the batting lineup. He has dismissed great batsmen such as Shubman Gill, Sanju Samson, Rohit Sharma, etc. The only tailender (someone who is down the batting order) he has taken a wicket of this season is Wayne Parnell. And Parnell is no muck with the bat.
Tushar Deshpande's wicket this season
— ` Frustrated CSKian (@kurkureter) May 8, 2023
Gill, Pooran, Badoni, Rohit, David², Jaiswal², Holder, Lomlor, Karthik,PARNELL, Jaggi, Wiese, Sanju, Dhawan, Livingston, Jitesh,Green
Tushar has taken only 1 Tailenders wicket out of 19 wickets😳😳😳 pic.twitter.com/rH79RHNpPL
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Deshpande's track record is impressive considering most leading or middle-order batsmen usually don't let bowlers' deliveries get past them and often hit them out of the park, but the CSK bowler seems to be these batters' Kryptonite. His ability to take their wickets will come in handy for the Super Kings in case they make it to the playoff stages.
Tushar Deshpande's overall IPL 2023 bowling stats
| Matches | Overs | Runs conceded | Wickets | Average | Economy | Best |
| 11 | 38.2 | 396 | 19 | 20.84 | 10.33 | 3/45 |
When will Tushar Deshpande play next?
CSK and Deshpande will next play Delhi Capitals at Chennai on May 10, 7:30 pm IST.
