There have been a number of incidents in the history of the IPL when one man has stepped up for his side and helped win the game almost single-handedly with an inspired spell of bowling.
Three men have taken six wickets in their four-over spells since 2008. The first took place in the inaugural edition of the league, when Pakistan players were still allowed to participate.
Playing for the Rajasthan Royals, Sohail Tanvir had watched the Chennai Super Kings bat first before he was tossed the ball. He answered the call in dramatic fashion. His 4 overs yielded just 14 runs as he took six wickets. CSK were all out for 109, which the Royals quickly knocked off for the loss of two wickets in the 15th over.
Tanvir went on to become the first Purple Hat winner in that first season.
His record was to stand unchallenged for eight years, when Sunrisers Hyderabad faced Rising Pune Supergiants. The Sunrisers batted first, and Pune captain MS Dhoni gave Australian leg-spinner Adam Zampa a bowl in the eighth over. However, after Zampa failed to take a wicket, Dhoni took him out of the attack, and did not recall him until the 16th over.
He took a wicket, and two more in the 18th over, and three more in the last to finish with 6-19. Despite his efforts, however, the Sunrisers still won by four runs. It remains the best IPL bowling performance in a losing cause.
Sohail’s record was finally broken by West Indian fast bowler Alzarri Joseph in April 2019, that too on his IPL debut.
Playing for the Mumbai Indians against the Sunrisers, Joseph had seen his side made 136/7. Then he dismissed David Warner and Vijay Shankar at the top of the innings, and helped clean up the tail with the wickets of Deepak Hooda, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and Siddarth Kaul. Mumbai won by 40 runs.
He still had two balls to bowl in his spell so. Had there been more batters left, his spell could have been any better. As it was, he set the new benchmark with 5-12.