An average of 7.14 wickets is falling per innings in the IPL 2021, which shows the dominance of bowlers so far. Especially on the Chepauk pitch, which is becoming a dream for the bowlers and a nightmare for big hitters. Seven matches of the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League are over in a snap, and we have already seen two bowlers pick fifers by now. One of them claimed it without bowling his entire quota of four overs. This feat is achieved only by a few bowlers in the history of IPL. So, let’s show you who are the only few bowlers to take a fifer in IPL without bowling their full quota.
#1 Anil Kumble v RR, 2009 – 3.1-1-5-5 :
Anil Kumble was the first bowler ever in the history of IPL to take a fifer without completing his full quota of four overs. He did it against Rajasthan Royals in a low-scoring second match of IPL 2009. While chasing 134, the RR openers fell victim to Praveen Kumar in the first and the third overs of the RR innings. Then Jesse Ryder scalped two RR wickets in the seventh and the ninth over and a run-out following that put RR into a struggling situation of 28/5. Kumble had bowled only one over till then and was wicketless.
In his next 13 deliveries, he wrapped up RR’s batting by picking their remaining five wickets. This tremendous bowling effort from RCB restricted RR to their lowest score (58) in the IPL ever. Anil Kumble ended the match with the figures of 5/5 from 3.1 overs and a maiden.
#2 Lasith Malinga v DC, 2011 – 3.1-1-13-5 :
Lasith Malinga was the second person to pull off the stunt of picking a fifer in IPL without bowling all of his allotted four overs. This bowling effort by him helped Mumbai Indians register an easy one-sided victory over Delhi Daredevils.
Malinga initiated DD’s downfall in the second over of the first innings, when he bowled both David Warner and Unmukt Chand in the span of three deliveries. He also sent back Venugopal Rao, Morne Morkel, and Ashok Dinda later in the innings. This effort led Delhi Daredevils’ innings to conclude on a low total of 95. MI effortlessly chased this target down with eight wickets and 19 balls in hand. Malinga won the player of the match award for his bowling figures of 5/13 from just 3.1 overs.
#3 Ishant Sharma v KTK, 2011 – 3-0-12-5 :
Ishant Sharma became the third bowler to achieve this feat in the 32nd match of IPL 2011 between Kochi Tuskers Kerela and Deccan Chargers. Batting first, Deccan Chargers scored 129/7 from their allotted twenty overs. Chasing 130, KTK lost Brendon McCullum on the fourth ball of the first over. Then came the two nightmare overs for KTK from Ishant Sharma.
Ishant picked three wickets only in his first and inning’s second over, leaving KTK under pressure. He sent back Parthiv Patel, Raiphi Gomez, and Brad Hodge to reduce KTK to 2/4 (four batsmen dismissed for two). But the nightmare wasn’t over for KTK as he returned to bowl the fourth over and scalped two more wickets to kick KTK entirely out of the contest. He claimed a fifer in just two overs and ended the match with figures of 5/12 from three overs. Ishant bagged the player of the match award for his match-winning spell in Deccan Charger’s 55 run victory.
#4 Alzarri Joseph v SRH, 2019 – 3.4-1-12-6 :
Alzarri Joseph had a dream IPL debut in the 19th match of IPL 2019 between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians. Alzarri beat Sohail Tanvir’s 6/14 with his 6/12 to claim the best bowling figures in IPL ever. Chasing 137, SRH started well before losing the wicket of Johnny Bairstow in the fourth over. In the next over, Alzarri Joseph pulled off a wicket maiden on debut by sending David Warner back.
Vijay Shankar became his second prey of the day in the seventh over. Joseph came back to bowl the 16th and 18th over, in which he picked four more wickets. Deepak Hooda, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and Siddarth Kaul all fell victim to his bowling in these two overs. MI won the match by 40 runs, and obviously, Alzarri Joseph won the player of the match award for his 6/12 from 3.4 overs.
#5 Andre Russell v SRH, 2021 – 2-0-15-5:
Andre Russell is the final and the most recent to pull off a fifer in IPL without bowling all four of his overs. In the 5th clash of IPL 2021 between Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders, MI lost seven wickets in the last five overs batting first. Andre Russell picked five of them in the 18th and 20th over.
The Chepauk pitch was getting difficult for hitting at the death, and Andre Russell used his slower ones to perfection to get MI batters out. Russell got Pollard and Marco Jensen out in the 18th over. In the final over, he got Krunal Pandya, Bumrah, and Rahul Chahar out to wrap up MI’s innings on 152 and claim his fifer. Unfortunately, the Chepauk pitch backfired at them as KKR choked and ended up losing a run-a-ball chase by ten runs.
