IPL 2023: Top 10 bowling performances from group stage

The excitement of the Indian Premier League's group-stage matches has come to an end. We have seen neck-to-neck battles between bat and bowl. A format dominated mostly by the batters has seen some exemplary bowling from bowlers. In this day and age, when 200+ scores aren't safe anymore; the onus comes on the bowlers to come into play and do the hard yards. Bowlers mostly have to bowl on flat tracks and the margin of error is so less for them that a slight change of line and length can cost a boundary. They have to maintain accuracy and stay one step ahead of the batters. The group stage of the IPL 2023 saw some phenomenal bowling performances from numerous bowlers. Bowlers from across franchises gave their absolute best to win games for their respective sides. As the group stage matches have come to an end let's look at the top bowling performances from the same: 10. Wayne Parnell 3/10 vs Rajasthan Royals Wayne Parnell (Photo Source : Twitter/Royal Challengers Banglore) After waiting for nine long years, Wayne Parnell had a decent outing in this year's IPL. The Proteas pacer was roped in as a replacement earlier this season for Reece Topley. Had Josh Hazelwood been fit, Parnell wouldn't have played match no. 60 against Rajasthan Royals. In an important match against RR, Royal Challengers Bangalore set up a target of 172 against the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson. RCB skipper Faf du Plessis demanded early breakthroughs from Parnell and he provided the same. In his first over itself, he had two big fishes in his pocket. The wickets of Jos Buttler and Sanju Samson made the crowd silent. He got proper support from his bowling partner Mohammed Siraj. He kept things simple, keeping the line and length wicket to wicket. Forcing the batter to go after him was his plan. Batters fell for it, but his ball to dismiss Joe Root was special. He trapped Joe, Leg Before Wicket (LBW) when the former was batting on 10. He reduced RR to 28/5 and from there on they couldn't recover. Eventually, they lost the match by a big margin and Parnell was awarded the Player of the match. 9. Avesh Khan 3/25 vs Rajasthan Royals Avesh Khan (Photo Source; IPl/Twitter) Avesh Khan brought up his match-winning performance against Rajasthan Royals this season in match no 26. The Indore-born player had a not-so-memorable season this time for Lucknow Super Giants. But LSG kept on backing him, and Avesh produced a great spell against Rajasthan Royals. Along with Marcus Stoinis, he played a crucial role in defending the low score of 155. Avesh started with the new ball against Yashasvi Jaiswal and Jos Buttler. He conceded 15 runs off those two overs. Then again when Marcus Stoinis broke the partnership between Buttler and Jaiswal, KL Rahul brought Avesh back into the attack. And Avesh responded back to his captain by getting the better of Shimron Hetmyer. Not only did Avesh stop there, he had to defend 19 runs in the last over and he delivered yet again. It was a difficult task to pull off a victory from here for RR and Avesh made sure LSG had the last laugh. He dismissed Devdutt Padikkal and Dhruv Jorel back to back to kill the chase. 8. Matheesha Pathirana 3/15 vs Mumbai Indians Matheesha Pathirana. (Photo Source: BCCI/IPL) Sri Lankan youngster Matheesha Pathirana has turned out to be MS Dhoni's hot favourite this season. The pacer has been given the duty to bowl the most difficult overs on a regular basis in the ongoing season. In the El Classico against Mumbai Indians, he maintained his sensational bowling streak. Not only he has a similar bowling action to Lasith Malinga but he also possesses good death bowling skills. Like in previous matches, MS brought him after twelve overs. MI were already struggling to find runs and economical bowling from Matheesha made things tougher for them. Then again, he came into the attack during the last three overs. He changed his pace and forced Nehal Wadhera to play shots against him, and it resulted in Wadhera's wicket. Even after that, he kept Tristan Stubbs and Tim David quiet for the remaining balls. In the last over, Pathirana picked up Arshad Khan and Tristan Stubbs to prevent the score from going past 140. Pathirana pulled off another sensational bowling spell, and even MS Dhoni spoke highly of him. Pathirana is proving to be a treasure for whichever team he plays for. 7. Rashid Khan 4/30 vs Mumbai Indians Rashid Khan. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI) Any top bowling performance list would be incomplete if Rashid Khan's name isn't mentioned on there. He is having his best IPL season so far in terms of wickets. The Afghan spinner clinched 24 dismissals in the group stage. Playing against Mumbai Indians in match no. 57, Hardik Pandya brought him inside the powerplay. But he had little impact. Once powerplay got over he used his magic trick to get both openers within a span of five deliveries. He mixed leg breaks and wrong'uns quite well. Even the dangerous-looking Suryakumar Yadav didn't take risks against him. Rashid ended his spell with the wicket of Tim David. Although Gujarat Titans conceded 218 runs, Rashid carried forward his bowling confidence into batting. A champion cricketer like him almost pulled off a historic victory that day. 6. Bhuvneshwar Kumar 5/30 vs Gujarat Titans Bhuvneshwar Kumar. (Photo Source: Twitter) India pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar's 5-wicket haul against Titans finds a place in this top bowling performance chart. Like his franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad, Bhuvneshwar had an average season going this year. A bowler per excellence was due for something special and he delivered against defending champions Gujarat Titans. His five-wicket haul was this season's second five-wicket haul after Mark Wood. In a must-win game for Mumbai Indians, Bhuvi started off sensationally by dismissing Wriddhiman Saha with an outswinger. Then Sai Sudarshan and Shubman Gill had a record 147-run stand. Skipper Aiden Markram wanted to utilise Bhuvneshwar's experience in the death overs and it paid off pretty well as SRH were pretty economical. And in the last over he got three batters out for a golden duck, which in itself is a record. Bhuvneshwar made use of his stock deliveries to deceive the batters at the business end. His change of pace worked pretty well on Ahmedabad's surface. But sadly, his five-wicket haul couldn't fetch his franchise two points as they lost by 34 runs. 5. Yuzvendra Chahal 4/17 vs Sunrisers Hyderabad Yuzvendra Chahal. (Photo Source: Twitter) IPL's leading wicket-taker Yuzvendra Chahal played a pivotal role for his franchise Rajasthan Royals in the ongoing season. Defending 214 runs on Jaipur's surface, he had some cushion to start off with. He got into wickets inside the powerplay when he got rid of set batter Anmolpreet Singh. Although, he had some head-to-head battle with Heinrich Klassen, and Chahal eventually had his man. Chahal got Rahul Tripathi out too. SRH's batting mainstay Aiden Markram was outdone by him as well to make the match tougher for the visitors. But unfortunately, the last ball finish had some other plans for the 'chess' master. Chahal missed out on playing playoffs this time as RR failed to qualify. He would be next seen for India in white-ball games post the World Test Championship final. 4. Mohammed Siraj 4/21 vs Punjab Kings Mohammed Siraj. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI) Mohammad Siraj has been going through a dream patch since last year's IPL. From being left out of the squads to being every captain's first choice in the XI, he has come a long way. The Hyderabadi boy picked up 19 wickets in 14 matches at an economy of less than 8. In Mohali, he produced a match-winning spell for Royal Challengers Bangalore in match no. 27. Defending a total of 174, Siraj removed opener Atharva Taide on the second ball of PBKS' innings and from there on he was in full flow. Faf kept two overs of Siraj on hold. Siraj was called back to bowl one in the middle phase and one during death overs. Siraj kept the batters quiet. Eventually, Siraj bowled exceedingly well to hand over his boys a thumping win over Punjab Kings. 3. Varun Chakravarthy 4/15 vs Royal Challenegers Bangalore Varun Chakaravarthy. (Photo Source: BCCI/IPL) Kolkata Knight Riders had a forgetful season this time, but Varun Chakravarthy had a gala time bowling for them. His 20-wicket season is his personal best, which is an achievement in itself. Surprisingly, both times KKR faced Royal Challengers Bangalore, Varun had a great time bowling against them. In total he picked up 7 wickets against RCB in the 2023 season. Defending 204 runs on the board, Varun got into his job inside the powerplay. This time, he got Faf du Plessis in his pocket. Then he outfoxed Glenn Maxwell to nullify the top-three threat. After that, he continued to shine as he picked up two more wickets to win the match for his side by 81 runs. Last season, he indicated about developing a new back of the hand leg break. Varun would like to continue the next season from where he left off this time. 2. Mohammed Shami 4/11 vs Delhi Capitals Mohammed Shami. (Photo Source: Disney+Hotstar) Mohammed Shami is like a workhorse for the Indian cricket team. And in IPL, since last season he's replicating his national team's form for Gujarat Titans. This season's purple cap holder Shami, is hitting the stumps more often than not. Batters have no clue whatsoever against his seam-up deliveries. This time a wicket off the first ball against Delhi Capitals at the Narendra Modi Stadium in match no 44 was a gift. Except that, all his remaining wickets were off classic Mohammed Shami deliveries. That day, it was like Shami went through DC's batting order reducing them to 23/5 inside five overs. He just conceded one boundary, and that to off his last over which tells a lot about his bowling from that day. His 19 dot balls are still the highest of this season in a game, and likely to stay so. But sadly, Shami ended on the losing side. Capitals pulled off a sensational win. Shami has games to play in the knockout stages before he flies to England for the WTC final. 1. Mark Wood 5/14 vs Delhi Capitals Mark wood. (Photo Source: BCCI/IPL) After a long wait, England speedster Mark Wood started his IPL journey with a bang. His first five-wicket haul that too in Lucknow Super Giants' first match gave a lot of confidence to skipper KL Rahul. He started off his business with rattling Prithvi Shaw's stumps and on the very next ball, Mitchell Marsh made his way towards the dug out. He continued to threaten the batters with his serious pace. On a not-so-lively deck at the Ekana Stadium, he hit the pitch hard to purchase something for him. He got Sarfaraz Khan out after troubling him for some time and he came back in the last over to finish his spell, bagging two more wickets. That's how he completed his maiden five-wicket haul in IPL. During the course of his bowling, he leaked only one boundary. After that match, he played only three more matches. He had some niggle issues and then flew back to England for his child's birth. His absence made things tougher for LSG as Wood was picking wickets regularly.

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IPL 2023: Top 10 bowling performances from group stage

Here are the top 10 bowling performances from group stages of the IPL 2023.

7. Rashid Khan 4/30 vs Mumbai Indians

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