3 best bowling performances in the first half of IPL 2023

The 16th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is now at the halfway stage and the intensity continues to rise. As always, the action on display has been riveting and the fans couldn't help but ask for more.

At this point, the Rajasthan Royals are at the top of the points table followed by Gujarat Titans and Chennai Super Kings, who are also well placed. In the middle, however, there is a rush as the Lucknow Super Giants, Royal Challengers Bangalore, and Punjab Kings are all on 8 points.

Kolkata Knight Riders, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Mumbai Indians, and Delhi Capitals are struggling at the moment but one can never rule a team out in the IPL.

One of the hallmarks of this year's IPL has been the quality of cricket and the bowlers have made their fair share of contributions to it. This year, we have seen the likes of Rashid Khan, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Siraj, and many others entertain fans to the core.

On that note, here's a look at the top 3 bowling performances in the first half of the IPL:

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#3 Arshdeep Singh - 4-29 vs MI

In a recent game between the Punjab Kings and Mumbai Indians, the former batted first and put up a score of 214 runs on the boards. Leading contributions were from Prabhsimran Singh, Athrva Taide, Harpreet Singh Bhatia, Sam Curran, and Jitesh Sharma. It was always going to be a stiff chase for MI, but Arshdeep Singh just made it tougher.

He got rid of Ishan Kishan off the first delivery that he bowled to get PBKS off to a great start. However, MI consolidated and were in a decent position at 182-4 in 17.3 overs before Arshdeep did some more damage.

He picked up the wicket of Suryakumar Yadav, who was well set on 57 off just 26 deliveries. MI needed 16 runs in the final over, which was bowled by Arshdeep. The youngster conceded just two and also picked up two wickets to shatter MI's hopes. His last two wickets were off perfect yorkers which broke the stumps.

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#2 Varun Chakravarthy - 4-15 vs RCB

RCB and KKR were up against each other in the ninth game of the season in Kolkata. RCB won the toss and elected to bowl first after which they reduced the hosts to 89-5. However, a phenomenal knock by Shardul Thakur resurrected KKR's innings and helped them post a total of 204.

In response, RCB got off to a fabulous start as openers Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis shared a 44-run stand. Sunil Narine got rid of Virat Kohli after which Varun Chakravarthy completely bamboozled two of RCB's biggest stars, Du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell.

Du Plessis failed to read Charkravarthy's googly while Maxwell couldn't control a quick delivery outside the off-stump. He also picked up the wicket of Harshal Patel in the same over in which he dismissed Maxwell.

Chakravarthy later returned to pick up the final wicket to help KKR win the game by a massive margin of 81 runs.

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#3 Mark Wood - 5-15 vs DC

Mark Wood, who was playing in the IPL after quite a while, produced a wonderful performance against the Delhi Capitals in Lucknow's first game of the season. DC won the toss and elected to bowl first, after which LSG posted a total of 193 on the scoreboard.

Kyle Mayers shone on his IPL debut, scoring 73 runs while Nicholas Pooran and Ayush Badoni played fine cameos.

Delhi were expected to put up a show, considering they had the likes of David Warner, Prithvi Shaw, Mitchell Marsh, Rilee Rossouw, and Rovman Powell in the ranks. But they succumbed to the pace of Mark Wood.

The English pacer struck in his first over, dismissing Prithvi Shaw with a quick delivery which seamed in. Off the very next delivery, he got rid of Mitchell Marsh, who was also beaten by pace and seam movement.

Then, in his second over, he had Sarfaraz Khan caught at fine-leg. Wood later returned to dismiss Axar Patel, ending with superb figures of 5-15 which earned him the Player-of-the-Match award.