Predicting the top 5 wicket-takers of IPL 2025 ft. Varun Chakaravarthy

The build-up to IPL 2025 is almost done and dusted, with the much-anticipated season all set to get underway on Saturday (March 22). Defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will take on the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in a potential humdinger at the iconic Eden Gardens.

Team predictions and their final position in the standings from experts and fans have dominated the headlines over the past couple of weeks. However, the IPL has also been high on rewarding individual players for their performances in a season with the prestigious Orange Cap and Purple Cap awards.

Coming to the latter, bowling continues to get harder and harder by the year with the rapid evolution in T20 batting, thanks to the batters' ever-improving skill level and the tweaking of the conditions in their favor. Yet, a select few bowlers have consistently made a mark and taken the 'Wicket-taking is the only way to stem the flow of runs' to their bank.

A general trend in the IPL has been the bowlers that bowl predominantly in the powerplay and the death, along with mystery spinners, dominating the wicket-taking charts.

Will the upcoming season be any different? Let us find out in our predictions of the top five wicket-takers in IPL 2025.

# 1 Varun Chakaravarthy

It is hard to look past India's leg-spinner Varun Chakaravarthy as the potential leading wicket-taker of IPL 2025. The 33-year-old was second last year with 21 scalps in 15 outings, helping KKR win a third IPL title.

Varun was there and thereabouts even in IPL 2023, finishing with 20 wickets in 14 matches. His stock has only further sky-rocketed since last year's IPL, with the Tamil Nadu spinner picking up wickets for fun in international cricket.

Varun has an extraordinary 31 wickets in 12 T20Is since returning to the Indian side on the back of his IPL 2024 performances. This includes two 5-wicket hauls as batters from around the world continue dancing to his tunes with the cherry.

Varun also broke through to the Indian 2025 Champions Trophy side following his heroics in the short format. He immediately struck gold with a five-wicket haul in only his second ODI game against New Zealand in the Champions Trophy.

His stellar performances in the semifinal and final helped India win their first ICC ODI trophy in over a decade. Summing it all up, Varun should be a chief contender to walk away with the Purple Cap in the upcoming IPL 2025.

# 2 Harshal Patel

One doesn't earn the title -'Purple Patel' unless he is among the leading wicket-takers year-in and year-out as Harshal Patel has been. Yet, the 34-year-old will have his ultimate challenge in IPL 2025, playing on arguably half his matches on the flattest surface in Hyderabad for the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH).

Harshal is one of only three bowlers, alongside Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohit Sharma, to have won the Purple Cap twice - in 2021 and 2024. With the ability to unleash umpteen variations and the smarts to change his line and length, the Gujarat-born pacer has become a specialist at the death.

With the presence of world-class seamers Mohammed Shami and Pat Cummins in the SRH ranks, one can expect opposition batters to play the duo out with relative safety and go after Harshal - a tactic that should work in his favor for picking up wickets.

# 3 Arshdeep Singh

If Varun Chakaravrthy has been the world's best T20I spinner since IPL 2024, Arshdeep Singh takes the honor among pacers. The 26-year-old enjoyed incredible success last year, finishing as the joint-leading wicket-taker in India's T20 World Cup win.

Arshdeep bagged a remarkable 36 wickets in 18 T20Is last year, including becoming India's all-time leading wicket-taker in the format with 99 in only 63 matches.

The left-arm pacer has also displayed excellent consistency in the last IPL seasons, with 19 and 17 wickets, respectively. Yet, with his sensational current form, the best is potentially still to come.

Spearheading the Punjab Kings (PBKS) seam attack, Arshdeep would look to take the next step and finish with 20+ wickets for the first time in an IPL season.

# 4 Kagiso Rabada

South Africa's Kagiso Rabada hasn't been at his absolute best in the last two IPL seasons, combining for only 18 wickets in 17 matches. Yet, the 2020 Purple Cap winner remains one of the best all-format bowlers in world cricket.

Rabada is coming off an excellent showing in the 2024/25 SA20 season, finishing with 12 wickets at an average of 15.33 and an economy of 6.53 in MI Cape Town's triumphant campaign. The champion pacer will also be buoyed by playing his home games on the Ahmedabad track known for favoring pacers, especially in the powerplay.

Rabada could also be the primary death bowler for Gujarat Titans (GT) in the absence of Mohit Sharma and Mohammed Shami, who owned the role in the last few years.

His current form and bowling with the new ball at Ahmedabad should be reason enough for the South African stalwart to finish in the top five of the wicket-takers chart. Manning the death overs will only add to Rabada's chances for a truckload of wickets in IPL 2025.

# 5 Yuzvendra Chahal

IPL wickets and Yuzvendra Chahal are never too far apart, with the Indian leg-spinner omnipresent at the top half of the wicket-taking charts in an IPL season. Having mastered the art of wicket-taking even on smaller grounds in Bengaluru, Chahal should enjoy the bigger boundaries at Mullanpur - home to more than half of Punjab Kings' (PBKS) games in IPL 2025.

The 34-year-old won the Purple Cap in 2022 with 27 wickets and finished with 21 and 18 scalps in 2023 and 2024. With the ability to beat batters in the air and off the pitch, Chahal's wicket-taking knack has been second to none in the IPL over the past decade.

The leggie will also have the added motivation of moving up the pecking order in India's T20I side after being dropped from the squad since the 2024 T20 World Cup.