IPL 2023: Top 5 bowlers who are likely to dominate IPL season 16

As many as 12 venues will be the spectacle of the 70 league matches which will be played over the course of almost two months. IPL is standing on the cusp of its 16th edition.

The league has grown in stature with each passing season. IPL’s per match value is over Rs 104 crore now, second only to USA’s NFL.

Not only have the value of media rights soared, the income of the players involved and their performances have also taken a giant leap. In fact, it’s the players who have taken IPL to an unprecedented height.

T20 cricket is usually considered a batting-friendly format and the IPL has been no different. Biggest strokeplayers from India and around the globe have lit the league with their swashbuckling hits.

But the cash-rich league has also been home to a lot of memorable bowling performances. The bowlers have garnered huge accolades and they richly deserve it. Each team has a fearsome batting line-up and turning up against them match after match and delivering on the big stage is a stupendous achievement.

The time is just apt to have a look at top 5 bowlers who are likely to dominate IPL season 16

Kagiso Rabada

Year after year, the South Africa pace spearhead has delivered in the IPL with plenty of wickets. In 2019, he picked 25 wickets and followed it with 30 wickets in the following season to win the coveted Purple Cap. In 2021, the 27-year-old grabbed 15 wickets, while in the 2022 edition with 23 wickets he finished as the third-highest wicket-taker.

Expectations will again be high from the gun pacer who has played 63 IPL matches and picked 99 wickets at an average of 19.86. One more wicket, and he will be only the 19th bowler with 100 wickets in the IPL.

Ravi Bishnoi

The out-of-favour leg-spinner last represented India at the Asia Cup in 2022. He gave away just 26 runs and picked a wicket but surprisingly was dropped later from the squad. At the moment, the 22-year-old is not even in the reckoning for any India white-ball squad. The Rajasthan tweaker has a point to prove and he could vey well emerge as the top spinner in the IPL 2023.

He made his IPL debut in the 2020 season with 12 wickets in 14 matches at an economy of 7.37. In the following season, Bishnoi picked 12 wickets at an average of 6.34. Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) picked Bishnoi as draft pick ahead of the IPL 2022 season which saw him pick 13 wickets at an economy of 8.44. Bishnoi, the highest wicket-taker at Under-19 World Cup 2022, has will be a bowler to watch out for in this edition.

Kuldeep Yadav

Kuldeep Yadav announced himself back with the IPL 2022 after spending the majority of the 2020 season on the sidelines. The chinaman bowler had lost his sheen and dropped from the India squad but his last IPL campaign for Delhi Capitals (DC) has turned the tables.

He finished IPL 2022 with 21 wickets – third highest by any spinner in the season and fifth on the overall list of highest wicket-takers. The former Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) bowler is back in the squad and isn’t short of confidence.

The IPL has returned to its old home and away format and DC’s home ground – Arun Jaitley Stadium (formerly known as Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium) which is known to aid spinners is expected to help him massively. Overall, he has picked 61 wickets in 59 IPL matches.

Josh Hazlewood

Nothing but magic can be expected from the third ranked T20I bowler in the world. The 32-year-old would be hungry to get in the middle having missed Australia’s entire tour of India due to an Achilles injury. Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) has confirmed his participation and he would look to carry from where he left last year.

Notably, in the IPL 2022 season, he finished as the sixth-highest wicket-taker. He picked 20 wickets at an average of 18.85 and an economy rate of 8.11. In international T20Is, Hazlewood picked 26 wickets at an economy of 7.52 and an average of 18.23 in 2022.

Jofra Archer

The England speed merchant is set to return to the IPL for the first time after 2020. One of the most lethal fast bowlers going around, Archer has recovered from his injury fully and is raring to ply his trade in the IPL. In his last season, he picked 20 wickets at an economy of 6.55.

Overall, he has played 35 IPL matches and picked 46 wickets at an economy of 7.13. The 27-year-old recently showed excellent form on return to international cricket against Bangladesh, picking nine wickets in five white-ball matches. The Mumbai Indians pacer can emerge as a strong contender for the Purple Cap this year.