The limited overs format and T20 in particular is often accused of being unfair to the bowlers. The debate includes batting friendly wickets, free hit rules relating to no balls, restrictions on bouncers and so on that leaves bowlers with limited or no advantage in their hands often resulting in brutal assault by the batters .
As the IPL gets ready to hit our screens this Friday, we take a look at the history books and bring you the most expensive bowling spells ever from the 13 editions of the tournament.
1. Basil Thampi – 0/70
Basil Thampi holds the record for bowling the most expensive bowling spell in the history of IPL. Thampi conceded 70 runs in his four over spell while playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in May 2018. The bowler had leaked 19 runs in his first over followed by 18 runs in the next. After making a comeback in the third over, he again gave away 19 runs to take his tally to 70 off his 4 overs that empowered RCB to put up a target of 218 to which Sunrisers could only reply with 204, resulting into a loss by 14 runs.
2. Mujeeb Ur Rehman – 0/66
The second most expensive figure in the IPL came from Afghanistan's spinner Mujeeb Ur Rehman. Representing Kings XI Punjab, the mystery spinner struggled to find his rhythm and kept getting hammered throughout his bowling spell. His national team mate Mohammad Nabi in particular troubled him with 2 sixes in an over. At the end of his 4 overs, Rehman finished with the figures of 0/66. This also got accounted as the most runs conceded by a spinner in the history of IPL. This helped Sunrisers smash a total of 212 runs and Punjab lost by 45 runs.
3. Ishant Sharma – 0/66
Bowling for Sunrisers Hyderabad up against Chennai Super Kings at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Ishant Sharma actually began his spell by giving just 1 run in his first 3 deliveries. However, his next three went for 10 runs. In the following over, Murali Vijay launched him for 3 successive sixes. After sparing 41 runs from his first 3 overs, the pacer was brought back into the attack in the 17th over where Suresh Raina hit 4 fours and one six to seal Ishant's spell at 0/66. This resulted in CSK putting up a giant total of 223 and Hyderabad losing the game by 77 runs.
4. Umesh Yadav – 0/65
Playing against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in 2013, Umesh Yadav produced his worst bowling figures with 65 runs in his four overs. Representing Delhi Daredevils, Yadav was hammered all around the ground by Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers. While all other Delhi Daredevils bowlers bowled decently with no one conceding more than 36 runs, Yadav returned to pavilion with figures of 0/65. Daredevil's lost that game by 4 runs.
5. Sandeep Sharma – 1/65
While opening the proceedings for Kings XI Punjab in a game against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in 2014, Sandeep Sharma conceded 65 runs in his four over spell. The medium pacer known for his accuracy gave 13 runs in his first two overs. However, Sharma got a shaky start to his third with 2 no balls and Shikhar Dhawan smacked him for 26 runs in the over. Returning at the death, Sharma's deliveries were shot all around the park by Naman Ojha, conceding another 26 runs. Sharma finished his worst day at work with 1/65, enabling the Sunrisers to post 205 runs. However, he was redeemed when Kings XI Punjab chased down the total with 8 balls remaining.
