IPL 2021: From Harshal Patel To The Chahar Cousins - The Five Best Bowling Performances of The Tournament

The three and a half weeks of action in IPL 2021 witnessed some memorable performances from the bowlers. While some of the big names like Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kagiso Rabada were not at their lethal best, some others stood out and gave brilliant performances with the ball. We look at five of the very best bowling performances from IPL 2021. We analyse the number of wickets taken, impact on the match, quality of the batsmen dismissed and the economy impact while selecting the best performances.

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1. Harshal Patel (5-27 in 4 overs) – RCB vs MI in Chennai

Harshal Patel stole the limelight in the very first match of the 14th edition of the IPL in Chennai. He returned with 5-27 in 4 overs against the two-time defending champions Mumbai Indians running through their middle order restricting them from a commanding 135 for 3 in the 16th over to 159 for 9 at the end of their allotted 20. Patel bagged the wickets of Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya and Marco Jansen – the last three off the last over of the innings. His phenomenal performance at the death changed the match on its head and set the match up for RCB. It remained the only one of the two five-wicket hauls in the tournament.

2. Deepak Chahar (4-13 in 4 overs) – CSK vs PBKS in Mumbai

Deepak Chahar produced his career-best figures in the IPL helping Chennai win the battle of the Kings at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The crafty right-arm fast-medium pacer used all his experience and skill and showcased a brilliant display of swing bowling to rock the PBKS top-order with the new ball. He knocked over Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Deepak Hooda and Nicholas Pooran before the completion of the seventh over and reduced PBKS to 26 for 5 effectively sealing the match for the Super Kings. He delivered as many as 18 dot deliveries of the 25 he bowled in the match – ie 72% of his deliveries were not scored off – a remarkable achievement given that three of his four overs were bowled in the powerplay!

3. Rahul Chahar (4-27 in 4 overs) – MI vs KKR in Chennai

Cousin Rahul Chahar had spun MI to victory a few days before against KKR in Chennai. Chasing a par 153, the Knight Riders were in control and had moved to 72 without losing a wicket in the 9th over before the leg spinner triggered a collapse and won the match for his franchise. Chahar saw the back of Shubman Gill, Rahul Tripathi, Eoin Morgan and Nitish Rana in successive overs from the 9th over to the 15th and changed the script of the match completely. KKR panicked and choked and what should have been an easy chase turned out to be a 10-run defeat. It was leg spin bowling at its best by the young 21-year old from Rajasthan.

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4. Jaydev Unadkat (3-15 in 4 overs) – RR vs DC in Mumbai

Jaydev Unadkat rattled the top order of the Delhi Capitals dismissing Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane in his opening spell in successive overs in the powerplay. The former India international delivered as many as 15 dot deliveries and used his change of pace brilliantly with the slower one accounting for all the three batsmen. DC recovered but could not put up a challenging total which RR chased down in the final over of the match. It was a rare occasion where both Dhawan and Shaw, who otherwise were in scintillating form in the tournament, were dismissed cheaply. Dismissing both of them early gave Unadkat a very high impact with the ball.

5. Harpreet Brar (3-19 in 4 overs) – PBKS vs RCB in Ahmedabad

Slow left-arm orthodox bowler Harpreet Brar gave a stunning performance for Punjab Kings in his very first match of the season for the franchise. He got the wickets of the big 3 – Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell and AB de Villiers – in the space of 7 deliveries – to break the backbone of the RCB chase and reduce them from 62 for 1 to 69 for 4 in the matter of a couple of overs. His best dismissal was when he turned one from middle, beat Maxwell and the ball kissed the top of off stump – sending the in-form Australian back to the pavilion for a golden duck. Brar got rid of two of the all-time international greats and a destructive in-form batsman effectively sealing the match for the Punjab Kings with his spell.​

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