While the Indian T20 League has seen some outstanding bowling spells over the years, there have also been instances when the batsmen have completely dominated proceedings. We delve into some of the worst bowling spells of the tournament and at first glance itself, it is pretty evident that the bowlers have it hard in T20 cricket.
Basil Thampi (4-0-70-0)
Basil Thampi has the rare distinction of being the only bowler in the tournament to concede 70 or more runs. The Kerala speedster recorded these unwanted figures in 2018 against Bangalore at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. With Moeen Ali, AB de Villiers and Colin de Grandhomme on the charge, Thampi was taken to the cleaners and conceded 70 runs in his four-over spell. He conceded 37 in his first two overs and 33 in his last two.
Read | Most economical bowlers in Indian T20 League history
Mujeeb-ur-Rahman (4-0-66-0)
The Afghanistan spinner is one of the most economical bowlers in the league's history. A mystery spinner with a plethora of variations, Mujeeb has been a revelation in all T20 cricket. In the 2019 league game against Hyderabad, Mujeeb, playing for Punjab, came up against David Warner and the results were catastrophic for the mystery spinner. He conceded 66 in his four-over spell after taking the new ball alongside Arshdeep Singh.
Ishant Sharma (4-0-66-0)
The Indian with the second-worst figures in the tournament, Ishant Sharma had a horrid night in 2013 when he conceded a whopping 66 runs against Chennai. In his final over, the Indian Test pacer conceded as many as 25 runs to go past the competition record of the worst spell ever before Thampi and Mujeeb took over from him. Ishant conceded a hat-trick of sixes in his second over before his poor final over gave him this unwanted record.
Read | Most wickets in Indian T20 history
Umesh Yadav (4-0-65-0)
Before Umesh Yadav switched allegiance to Bangalore, he had a face-off against Virat Kohli in 2013 while playing for the Delhi franchise. Umesh was tight in his first two overs, conceding just 13 runs but had a nightmare in the death as Kohli took a liking to his bowling. In the 18th over, Umesh conceded 24 runs but his skipper, David Warner, trusted him with yet another over. Kohli smashed two fours and two sixes in that final over as Umesh went on to record horrendous figures of 4-0-65-0.
Sandeep Sharma (4-0-65-1)
In 2014, Sandeep Sharma was bludgeoned for 65 runs in his four-over spell against Hyderabad while he represented Punjab. Like with Umesh Yadav, Sandeep started well, giving away just 13 runs in his first two overs. But as he resumed in the powerplay, Shikhar Dhawan dug into the swing bowler that over and stole four fours and a six. When he came back for the 19th over, Sandeep was all over the place with wides and no-balls and conceded 26 off it to record his worst figures in the format.
Read | Year by year list of Purple Cap holders
Feature image courtesy: AFP / Manjunath Kiran
