From IPL archives: Highest wicket taker for each team in IPL 2009

#2 Royal Challengers Bangalore - Anil Kumble - 21 Wickets

Anil Kumble

Royal Challengers had a horrible start to the IPL in 2008 as they were smashed all over by Brendon McCullum at Chinnaswamy. They couldn't recover from that as they finished second last in the inaugural edition. Anil Kumble, who quit international cricket in 2008, was handed over the responsibility of captaincy of RCB midway through the tournament after Kevin Pietersen had to leave for national duty.

He led from the front with the ball in hand right from the first match of the tournament where he bamboozled defending champions Rajasthan Royals with an impressive spell of 3.1-1-5-5. In a format where spinners were considered as the bowlers that batsman will attack for runs, Kumble countered it by attacking the batsman with his guile.

He ended up taking 21 wickets in the tournament at an economy rate of 5.86. He also reintroduced the trend of making a spinner open the bowling as he took the new ball in crucial matches. His man of the match performance of 4-0-16-4 in the final was not enough to win the title.