Indian Premier League season five has seen some extraordinary performances by the bowlers so far. It is a format designed to favour the batsmen and the previous four seasons turned out to be the batsmen dominating season. The tournament is in its last two weeks and it has been the most open completion so far. As many as seven teams are fighting for the place in the playoffs and it is mostly because of the efforts from various bowlers.

The biggest topic of discussion in this IPL has been all the last over and last ball finish. But, one thing that people are forgetting that it is the efforts of the bowlers that is taking the match to the last ball. It has not been easy work for the batsmen and most they will agree to it.

Taking wickets is extremely important in all formats but stopping the batsmen to score quick runs is equally important in T20 format. There has been instance that a bowler who has not picked a single wicket has won the match for his teams because of his economical bowling.

Let’s have a look at the bowlers who have been the best when it comes to bowling economically. (Only the bowlers who have bowled more than 20 overs have been taken into consideration)

Sunil Narine (Kolkata Knight Riders): He has been the best bowler for Kolkata Knight Riders and is one of the major reasons why KKR is leading the points table. Narine has been a revelation and no batsmen till now has been able to read him. Narine’s economy rate is 5.30, which is absolutely brilliant. He is also in the race for the purple cap; KKR will be hoping that Narine can carry on with his good form.

Lasith Malinga (Mumbai Indians): No surprise here, Malinga is the best bowler in the world in T20 cricket and he has showed why. Malinga is the current holder of the purple cap and the best thing about him is that he is taking the wickets at a very good economy rate. Malinga has conceded runs at an economy rate of only 5.36.

Ankit Sharma (Deccan Chargers): No one expected him to make it to the list, but he has bowled well to get it in the list of the most economical bowlers. He beat the more experienced Dale Steyn and Amit Mishra in terms of the pace at which he concedes runs. He has been very effective with his slower balls and batsmen have found it hard to hit him. He has conceded runs at an impressive economy rate of 6.41.

R Ashwin (Chennai Super Kings): He has been one of the best bowlers in the history of IPL and he has been effective in this season as well. He has been struggling to pick wickets and has only managed four wickets so far, but his economy rate has been good. Batsmen always find it difficult to get Ashwin away and that reflects in his economy rate which is 6.43.

Muttiah Muralitharan (Royal Challengers Bangalore): Murali has not played all the matches for RCB and the only reason is that the other international spinner in the side is the skipper of RCB. Murali has been troubling batsmen from the past two decades and IPL-5 has not been different. Murali has got eight wickets from the five matches that he has played in and his economy rate of 6.5 is very good.

By Gaurav Jha
Indian Sports News