5 most expensive bowling figures in IPL history

In the 24th match of IPL 2023, RCB medium pacer Vijaykumar Vyshak, who was playing just his second match, gave 62 runs in his four overs and learned a hard lesson that "Cricket is a great leveler."

Vyshak, who finished with figures of 3/20 against the Delhi Capitals, was hammered by the CSK batters.

You would often see bowlers getting smacked all around the park, returning with expensive overs. Especially in T20 cricket, it happens more often than not.

T20 cricket is unquestionably the batter's game because of its small boundaries, super-fast outfields, fielding restrictions, and bat-friendly surfaces. The fact that the bowlers only have to bowl four overs or 24 legal balls is their sole chance of relief. There have been times, though, when even that number felt uncomfortable.

While bowlers dread passing the 50-run threshold in those four overs as this will most often result in their team's loss, batters joyfully celebrate it. There have been many of these occurrences in the IPL. Several records have been broken on the ideal Indian batting surfaces with pulled-in boundary ropes. Unflattering bowling statistics are one of them.

Here are the top five most expensive bowling performances thus far in the IPL.

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#5 Umesh Yadav (4-0-65-0) vs RCB, IPL 2013

Umesh Yadav is a great operator with the new ball, but doesn't have a great reputation bowling death overs.

But in IPL 2013, while representing, Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) against Royal Challengers Bangalore, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers took a special liking to him and smacked him all around the park.

Interestingly, while no other Delhi bowler conceded more than nine runs per over, Yadav went for 65 runs in his spell, leaking runs at 16.25.

That proved to be decisive in the end, as Delhi lost the match by four runs.

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#4 Mujeeb Ur Rahman (4–0–66–0) vs SRH, IPL 2019

Afghanistan’s mystery spinner, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, who mostly bowls out in powerplay overs, is known for the number of variations he has up his sleeve.

But during his stint with Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) against Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2019, he was carted away by batters going berserk against him.

His countrymen Mohammad Nabi and Kane Williamson were especially brutal and smoked him for three sixes and a four in his last over, which cumulated 26 runs from that over. Rahman finished with figures of 0/66 in his four overs. It is also the most number of runs conceded by a spinner in the tournament’s history.

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#3 Ishant Sharma (4-0-66-0) vs CSK, IPL 2013

If a match starts with a maiden, you think that batters will find it difficult to score freely. But that's not the case with this match.

Ishant Sharma, bowling the second over, conceded only one run in his first three balls. But his next three balls went for 10 runs.

In Ishant's second over, Murali Vijay clobbered him for three consecutive sixes. Having already conceded 41 in his first three, the tall pacer was brought back to bowl the 17th over. Then, Suresh Raina smashed Ishant for four boundaries and a six to end his bowling figures at 4-0-66-0.

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#2 Yash Dayal (4-0-69-0) vs KKR, 2023

In a match that witnessed its share of ups and downs, Gujarat Titans pacer Yash Dayal was on the receiving end of one of the most unprecedented incidents in the IPL, or international cricket.

Venkatesh Iyer and Nitish Rana were looking to send the Kolkata Knight Riders home with a comfortable win, but Rashid Khan changed the course of the game with his hat-trick.

Yash, who had already been carted in with 38 runs in three overs, was given the responsibility to protect 29 runs in the last over. But then came, Rinku Singh, who five consecutive sixes to seal the deal for KKR, which resulted in Yash conceding 69 runs off his 4 overs.

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#1 Basil Thampi (4–0–70–0) vs RCB, IPL 2018

Basil Thampi holds the unwanted record for conceding the most number of runs in an IPL game.

Thampi represented SRH Against RCB in the bowler's graveyard at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium. England all-rounder Moeen Ali smashed Thampi's first two balls for sixes, conceding 19 from his first over.

His next over went for 18 as AB de Villiers took him to the cleaners. Thampo continued to be expensive, as he conceded 19 runs in the final over and finished with figures of 0/70 in four overs.