Yuzvendra Chahal became the highest wicket-taker for Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League during the Royals’ Eliminator match in IPL 2024.
Chahal dismissed Virat Kohli, this season’s leading run-getter, for his 66th wicket in his 45th IPL match, to go ahead of medium-pacer Siddarth Trivedi, who had 65 wickets from 76 matches.
Starting IPL 2024 with 48 wickets, Chahal reached the 50-wicket mark in the Royals’ second game this season against Delhi Capitals, to become the fifth Royals player to reach the milestone.
Former Rajasthan Royals’ captain and legendary leg-spinner Shane Warne was the first to achieve this feat in 2011, in his fourth and final year with the Royals in the IPL. He was followed by medium-pacer Siddarth Trivedi who reached the 50-wicket mark in the subsequent year in 2012.
Shane Watson and James Faulkner round off the list as they reached the 50-wicket mark in 2013 and 2015, respectively.
There have been two Purple Cap winners for Rajasthan Royals in the history of IPL. A Purple Cap is awarded to the player with the most wickets at the end of an IPL season.
Sohail Tanvir was the first winner for the Royals in the inaugural season in 2008. The left-arm pacer picked up 22 wickets that year to guide the Royals to be the first champions of the IPL.
Yuzvendra Chahal was the highest wicket-taker in IPL 2022 with 27 wickets from 17 matches and won the Purple Cap as the Royals reached their second finals after 2008.
Faulkner is the highest wicket-taker for Rajasthan Royals in a single season of the IPL. The left-armer had a dream start to his IPL career in 2013 as he picked up 28 wickets from 16 matches.
But Faulkner did not win the Purple Cap that year as he finished second in the overall list.
Faulkner is also the only Royals bowler to have two five-wicket hauls against his name. Astonishingly, both came in the same season (IPL 2013) and against the same opponent, Sunrisers Hyderabad, in a gap of 20 days.
Five players have ended the season as the Royals’ top wicket-taker two times with leg-spinner Warne doing it in consecutive seasons, as he finished as the Royals’ top bowler in 2010 and 2011.
Though Trivedi, Chris Morris and Jofra Archer finished as the Royals’ highest wicket-getters in two seasons, it was Chahal who matched Warne’s exploits as he finished at the top of the Royals’ bowling chart consecutively in 2022 and 2023.
Meanwhile, Chahal is just one wicket away from being the Royals’ all-time highest wicket-taker in all competitions. Shane Watson with 67 wickets, including six wickets picked up in the Champions League T20 tournament in 2013, sits on top.
Highest wicket-takers for Rajasthan Royals
|
Player |
Matches |
Wickets |
Best bowling |
|
Shane Watson |
84 |
67 |
3/10 |
|
Yuzvendra Chahal |
46 |
66 |
5/40 |
|
Siddarth Trivedi |
76 |
65 |
4/25 |
|
Shane Warne |
56 |
58 |
4/21 |
|
James Faulkner |
48 |
53 |
5/16 |
