After much delay, the Indian Premier League is ready to begin despite the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. With the BCCI shifting the edition to the UAE, franchises will need to adapt and change their strategies according to the conditions on offer. The heat wave and the fact that just three venues will be used for the IPL means that the slower bowlers will have plenty to do over the course of 6 weeks.
Here we list the potential Purple Cap winners in IPL 2020.
Yuzvendra Chahal: The spinner is street smart and is not afraid to toss the ball up, even if it means getting hit for a few sixes. He has picked up 84 wickets in his IPL career, with most of them coming at the flat Chinnaswamy track at Bengaluru. Last season, the Team India cricketer picked up 18 wickets in 14 games at an impressive economy rate of just 7.82.
Chahal is a proven match-winner and will find the conditions in the UAE to his liking. He will be the key player in the unit as the RCB team look to finally end their trophy drought.
Rashid Khan: The Afghan spinner has become a star in the format and was the youngest to grab 300 wickets in T20s – a feat that he accomplished during the ongoing CPL. The leggie is a quick bowler, who has a number of variations in his arsenal. He has an excellent googly as well, and keeps things tight, which makes it tough for the batters to attack him either in the powerplay, middle or the death overs.
In 2019, the youngster picked up 17 wickets in 15 games, but most importantly ended with an economy rate of just 6.28. He has experience of playing in various T20 leagues all over the world and is among the wickets more often than not. With the tracks for IPL 2020 expected to be slow and dusty, Rashid Khan will be one of the toughest players to face.
Jasprit Bumrah: The Mumbai Indians fast bowler is arguably the best fast bowler in the world at the moment. With an unorthodox action and with the ability to hit the deck hard with either the new or the old ball, Bumrah has proven to be an absolute beast in the game. In the IPL last year, the Gujarat pacer managed to pick up 19 wickets in 16 games at an excellent economy rate of 6.63.
He has an excellent yorker up his sleeve, which Rohit Sharma utilizes cleverly right throughout the innings. Even if he is not among the wickets, he will stall the run flow, which in turn adds additional pressure on the opponent batters. Bumrah is a proven match-winner who excels in various conditions, and it should not be a surprise if he ends IPL 2020 with the most number of wickets.
Imran Tahir: The Parasakthi Express seems to be getting better with age. The 41-year old South African was the highest wicket-taker in IPL 2019, ending with 26 scalps in 17 games with an economy rate of less than seven. He also ended the Mzansi Super League – South Africa’s domestic T20 tournament – as the highest wicket-taker with 17 wickets in just 11 matches. Tahir has been picking up consistent wickets in the ongoing CPL as well, and there is no reason to believe that he will be unable to replicate the same form for CSK in the IPL.
With big grounds and used wickets on offer in this year’s Indian Premier League, Tahir, who played most of his games at the Chepauk last IPL, will be a threat and he emerges as the favourite to win the Purple Cap yet again.