Sometimes the success of bowlers in the IPL goes unnoticed. Take the example of GT; the team managed to reach the top in the IPL 2026 points table, and by virtue of that, made it to the qualifier 1 of the tournament. A large part of their success was attributed to the runs scored by Sai Sudharsan (638) and Shubman Gill (616). Some credit was also reserved for Jos Buttler, who bounced back to form after ages, and scored 469 runs. But somehow the contribution of pacer Kagiso Rabada went unnoticed.
Rabada the best
The towering South African pacer, during the Qualifier 1 against RCB on Tuesday, not only got hold of the purple cap with 26* wickets, but also became the highest wicket-taker in the history of IPL, in the powerplays. So, when Rabada got rid of Venkatesh Iyer, the southpaw became his 18th victim in the PP, this year.
No bowler had taken 18 wickets in the first six over, in a season ever. The previous record was held by Mohammed Shami for GT, where he bagged 17 in the six overs mark. Aussie quick Mitchell Johnson in 2013 and Trent Boult in 2020 are joint-third at 16 wickets each.
Massive contribution in GT’s success
As far as this year is concerned, RCB’s Bhuvneshwar Kumar is second on the list after Rabada, having taking 15 wickets*, inside the PP. Another GT bowler, Mohammed Siraj has 13 wickets to his name in the PPs, followed by Jofra Archer at 9, and Shami at 7. Mind you, all these bowlers will have a chance to better their tallies, since their teams are part of the playoffs.
What has been a total game-changer in the case of Rabada this year is, he has bowled 155 dots in the year, again the most by any bowler across teams. The next best on the list is Bhuvneshwar Kumar — 151. All this only goes on to show, the impact Rabada has made.
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