As the years go by, cricket is becoming an increasingly batting-friendly sport. This season alone, teams have scored 200 runs or more 36 times this season, an Indian Premier League (IPL) record.
Not just that, but totals of above 200 have been chased eight times this season, another IPL record. The total match aggregate of 400 runs has been crossed 16 times.
However, the art of bowling hasn't faded. While batsmen have found new ways to pick the gaps and counter the bowlers, the bowlers have also come up with different variations that help that mitigate the batsman's threat.
In the IPL, the bowler who gets the most wickets is awarded the Purple Cap at the end of the season. Many bowlers have won the award, and very few have won it more than once.
TSN takes a look at the bowlers to have taken the most wickets in a single campaign.
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Dwayne Bravo and Harshal Patel hold the record for most wickets taken in a single IPL season
Dwayne Bravo, one of the best IPL players ever and among the greatest T20 all-rounders of all-time, holds the record for picking up the most wickets in a single season, picking 32 wickets in the 2013 edition of the IPL. His best spell of 4 for 42 came against Mumbai Indians (MI) in the final, but it wasn't enough as MI beat CSK to lift their maiden IPL trophy.
Harshal Patel, who was playing IPL since 2012, had his breakthrough season in 2021 as he took 32 wickets in just 32 wickets to win the Purple Cap. He is also the Indian bowler with the most wickets in a single IPL season. His exploits that season helped him earn a national call-up as he made his debut for India in a T20I against New Zealand.
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List of most wickets by a bowler in an IPL season
NOTE: Mohammed Shami and Rashid Khan have an asterisk (*) followed by their names as the stats will change following the IPL 2023 final
| Matches | Wickets | Average | S.R. | Econ. | 4-for | 5-for | Best | |
| Harshal Patel (RCB, 2021) | 15 | 32 | 14.34 | 10.56 | 8.14 | 1 | 1 | 5-27 |
| Dwayne Bravo (CSK, 2013) | 18 | 32 | 15.53 | 11.71 | 7.95 | 1 | 0 | 4-42 |
| Kagiso Rabada (DC, 2020) | 17 | 30 | 18.26 | 13.13 | 8.34 | 2 | 0 | 4-24 |
| Lasith Malinga (MI, 2012) | 16 | 28 | 13.39 | 13.50 | 5.95 | 0 | 1 | 5-13 |
| James Faulkner (RR, 2013) | 16 | 28 | 15.25 | 13.53 | 6.75 | 0 | 2 | 5-16 |
| Mohammed Shami* (GT, 2023) | 16 | 28 | 17.60 | 13.28 | 7.95 | 2 | 0 | 4-11 |
| Jasprit Bumrah (MI, 2020) | 15 | 27 | 14.96 | 13.33 | 6.73 | 2 | 0 | 4-14 |
| Rashid Khan* (GT, 2023) | 16 | 27 | 18.80 | 14.22 | 7.93 | 1 | 0 | 4-30 |
| Yuzvendra Chahal (RR, 2022) | 17 | 27 | 19.51 | 15.11 | 7.75 | 1 | 1 | 5-40 |
| Bhuvneshwar Kumar (SRH, 2017) | 14 | 26 | 14.19 | 12.07 | 7.05 | 0 | 1 | 5-19 |
| Dwayne Bravo (CSK, 2015) | 17 | 26 | 16.38 | 12.07 | 8.14 | 0 | 0 | 3-22 |
| Wanindu Hasaranga (RCB, 2022) | 16 | 26 | 16.53 | 13.15 | 7.54 | 1 | 1 | 5-18 |
| Imran Tahir (CSK, 2019) | 17 | 26 | 16.57 | 14.84 | 6.69 | 2 | 0 | 4-12 |
