All stats are up to the 29th match of IPL 2018

#5 Dwayne Bravo - Andre Russell

Dwayne Bravo is the first bowler in the IPL to win two purple cap awards in the years 2013 and 2015. In total, he has taken as many as 129 wickets in 113 matches and has a decent economy rate of 8.24. His strike rate of 16.57 is the best for any bowler with more than 100 wickets in IPL.

In spite of being the second most successful bowler for Chennai Super Kings, Bravo’s figures against Russell have been poor. Russell takes a particular liking towards Bravo’s bowling in T20s and has hit 14 sixes in 82 balls i.e. at least one six per over. Russell has a strike-rate of 200.00 against Bravo and has smashed 164 runs off his bowling.

The most recent innings of Russell against Bravo came in this IPL. Of the 88 runs that Russell scored against CSK, 41 runs came off Bravo’s bowling off just 14 balls. He hit Bravo for 6 sixes in his blitzkrieg innings, which was nearly enough for the win.

#4 Piyush Chawla - Chris Gayle

Piyush Chawla is not only the second highest wicket-taker for Kolkata Knight Riders but also the leading wicket-taker for his previous franchise, Kings XI Punjab. He is the third highest wicket-taker in IPL history with 132 wickets at a strike rate of 20.64. His economy rate is just above 7.5 and is used as a wicket-taking option by his captains.

But his record against Chris Gayle is not the one to boast about. He got Gayle out only once in 64 balls and was hit for 116 runs. Gayle’s strike rate against the leg-spinner is 181.25 and he has hit 11 sixes off Chawla’s bowling.

#3 Amit Mishra - Virat Kohli

Amit Mishra is the leading Indian wicket-taker in the history of IPL with 136 wickets from 129 matches. The wrist spinner is also the leading wicket-taker for the Delhi Daredevils with 76 wickets from 74 matches. He concedes just under 7.5 runs an over and takes a wicket in less than 20 balls.

In spite of troubling so many batsmen in the IPL, he wasn’t able to trouble Virat Kohli. The Indian captain has a strike rate of 172.16 against Mishra as he scored 167 runs off 97 deliveries. Mishra conceded 16 fours and 8 sixes to Kohli and was able to get his wicket only once in the history of the tournament.

#2 Dale Steyn - AB de Villiers

At his best, Steyn was one of the most feared bowlers in IPL as he could crank up the speeds to 150kmph. He picked up 92 wickets in 90 matches in the IPL with an economy rate of 6.72. He has the highest ball percentage with more than 2.85 dots per over.

Of all the times ABD and Steyn faced off against each other, two occasions are most remembered. In 2012, Steyn, who was representing the erstwhile Deccan Charges, came to bowl against ABD when Bangalore needed 39 off 18 balls. de Villiers smashed 23 runs in Steyn’s eighteenth over and finished the match for RCB.

In 2014, a similar situation occurred when SRH were facing RCB and this time ABD improved his record against Steyn. ABD hit 24 runs off Steyn’s over and took the Bangalore based franchise with 89* off 41 balls.

In total, ABD has hit 56 runs off Steyn’s bowling with a strike rate of 207.41. Steyn has previously expressed his fear by saying that “There are only two games that I dread in a year - the two games I play against ABD.”

#1 Bhuvneshwar Kumar - MS Dhoni

Bhuvneshwar Kumar is at present one of the best death over bowlers in the world. He has a total of 117 wickets from 94 matches in IPL. His record has improved after joining the Sunrisers Hyderabad as he claimed 93 wickets in just 63 matches for the Hyderabad-based franchise.

The only batsman who dispatched the double purple cap winner to all parts of the ground on various occasions is MS Dhoni. Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s record against MS Dhoni is not the one that he would be proud about. In 41 deliveries bowled by him, Dhoni scored 81 runs and has an astounding strike rate of 197.56. In spite of being an expert in death overs, he could never get the wicket of MS Dhoni.

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