IPL 2025: The bowling big board

Welcome to the IPL 2025 bowling big board. Unlike the last mega auction, this time teams can also use the RTM, depending upon the number of capped and uncapped retentions. This adds to the unpredictability of the event. But we are here to simply look at the best options for each bowling type and phase. 

We have looked at their performances in the IPL since the last mega auction, and we also factor in their form and age. In a mega auction, you are not building a team for just one year. Some bowlers who have not played a lot in the competition have also been included.

Arshdeep Singh is 25, so he is yet to reach his peak years. He bowls the majority of his overs at the top and end of games. He doesn’t have great IPL numbers in the last cycle, but his record for India has been incredible—95 wickets in 60 games at an economy of 8.32 while averaging less than 20. Importantly, he was also very good in both the T20 World Cups he played. That is when you are up against the best batting line-ups in the world. However, PBKS do have the flexibility to get him back in their setup using the RTM card.

We could have had T Natarajan at top, but he is second due to just age and injuries. He has the best true economy of all the Indian left-arm quicks in the last three seasons. He is an all-phase bowler, with the middle overs being his strongest suit in terms of keeping the flow of runs in check. He was the only one to bowl over 100 yorkers, with the second-best being Arshdeep with 85 yorkers. Though, we do need to note that he attempted it far more than anyone else as well. However, unlike Arshdeep, he is not a regular in the Indian T20 setup. He has also had injury issues, and is 33. But SRH cannot use the RTM on him as they have already retained five capped players.

Trent Boult was without a doubt the best left-arm quick, and the best new-ball bowler in the last three seasons of the IPL. He does not have a central contract with New Zealand. With him, you get an experienced bowler that has gotten better at T20 over the years—with two to three overs in the Powerplay locked in. He has also developed a knuckleball, which adds another skill to his arsenal. Did I forget to mention that he is the GOAT of the first over? His true wickets is well over one for the first over, but it's actually negative for all the other powerplay overs. The main reason might just be that the swing he gets decreases. It’s over two degrees in the 1st over, and less than 0.5 after that. 

Khaleel Ahmed is at his best in the first six overs. In the last three seasons, he conceded 1.14 runs less than the expected while bowling during the field restrictions. However, he took 0.2 wickets less per four overs.

Like Arshdeep, Marco Jansen also has World Cup and IPL experience early in his career. At the moment, he is a high-usage bowler during the field restrictions, which is when 13 of his 18 IPL wickets have come. He has batting talent as well. Plus, it also helps to have a great series (against India) just before the auction. Mustafizur Rahman, or the Fizz, is 29. He looked great last season in the few games he played, despite it being a high-scoring league. Farooqi has only played seven games in the IPL, but he was brilliant in the T20 World Cup in June. Starc had a poor start last season, but he came really good towards the end of the league—especially in the playoffs.

Spencer Johnson, Josh Little and Nandre Burger are some more left-arm pacers that could prove to be vital. Johnson has a good record in all phases, Little bowls in the powerplay and also picks up wickets in the middle, and Burger has taken most of his T20 wickets at the start and end of games. Sam Curran should not be used the way Punjab did, and his bowling will not be the only reason for being picked by a franchise.

There aren’t that many offspinners in the open market. Usually, they also have a secondary skill. Of course, we start with the dream of Washington Sundar. His first few years in the IPL were magnificent. However, the previous cycle has been disappointing—he had the worst true economy of all spinners of his type, and did not pick up too many wickets either. But he can bat, and there have been signs that he has become better at hitting.

Ashwin is still one of the best defensive spinners in the league. He believes that a T20 over consists of six well-constructed bad balls. We know he is one of the best thinkers in the game. Not to mention the fact that he can also float around in the batting line-up in certain situations. Ashwin’s main length is around the 5 to 6 meter mark, this provided him a lot of success in 2022 and 2023 where he went at 6 an over bowling this length, but in the 2024 season he went at 8 an over bowling this length. On top of that, he is 38, so the team that picks him will have to plan accordingly, and be prepared that they might not get more than a couple of seasons from him. 

Tanush Kotian has a good record in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT), and can also bat. Hrithik Shokeen has played 13 games for Mumbai Indians, picking up five wickets. Kotian is 26, while Shokeen is 24. Lalit Yadav will turn 28 in January, and should be entering his prime years. Krishnappa Gowtham also has IPL experience—though he played only one game last year. He has been performing well in the SMAT over the last couple of years.

Sikandar Raza is a better bowler than most of them, and he has done incredibly well with the ball in the last three years—picking up 113 of his 157 T20 career wickets since the start of 2022. His batting numbers have also held up quite well in this time period. Mohammad Nabi has not gotten a lot of game time in the IPL in recent times. Some of it has to do with the fact that teams usually look to pick Indian spinners. But with him, you also get some batting. However, he averages 16 at a strike rate of 117 in 42 innings this year. 

Although both Moeen Ali and Glenn Maxwell have good numbers, Moeen bowled less than two overs per match from 2022 to 2024, while Maxwell delivered eight balls a game on an average. Neither of them are going to be picked solely for their bowling, but you’d take an over or two from someone that can bat in the top seven. Similarly, we also have Will Jacks, Glenn Phillips and Aiden Markram as part-time options. 

Dan Mousley is the quickest spinner according to Cricviz, and can also bat. He might be an X-factor player that teams could be interested to have in their line-ups.

None of the left-arm fingerspinners—that bowled over 200 deliveries and are in the mega auction—were positive on true wickets. But most of them were frugal in terms of conceding runs, and that is what you pick them for.

Krunal Pandya has been one of the most underrated players in IPL history. Even in the last three seasons, he has been very economical. He bowls about 15 deliveries per match. However, his batting is not as good as it used to be—he averaged 22 at a strike rate of 121 for LSG, compared to 23 at 139 for MI. The experienced allrounder will turn 34 in March next year. 

Sai Kishore has been very good in the ten matches he has played for GT, picking up 13 wickets at 8.32. He is 28, so selecting him could pay good dividends from a long-term perspective as well. Punjab could use the RTM to buy back Harpreet Brar, who takes wickets slightly more often compared to other SLAs, but also goes for a few more runs. Shahbaz Ahmed is probably the best batter among these three, but he conceded 1.9 runs more than expected in this previous mega auction cycle, while also taking 0.4 wickets less than expected per four overs.

Next on the list, we have a few overseas options. Mitchell Santner is quite similar to the Krunal Pandya prototype as a T20 player—someone who could bat at seven or eight, and bowl two to three overs a game consistently. Whenever he gets an opportunity in the IPL, he performs incredibly well as a defensive spinner. 2024 has been Keshav Maharaj’s most prolific year as a T20 bowler—43 of his 154 career wickets have come this year. But he will turn 35 in February. I think he is a great option to have in the squad as someone who could play on spin-friendly wickets. Akeal Hosein bowls a lot in the Powerplay, and also has good numbers through the middle period of the innings. However, the issue for all of them is that overseas spinners other than Sunil Narine or Rashid Khan have not played much in the league.

Shams Mulani and Kumar Kartikeya are two Indian spinners who don’t have a lot of IPL experience, but have performed well in domestic cricket. Mulani can also bat. Both of them played for MI—two games for Mulani, and 12 for Kartikeya. They primarily bowl in the middle overs.

Yuzvendra Chahal took more wickets than any other bowler in the previous three-year cycle, so any team that picks him has a bankable wicket taker in their line-up. However, he concedes more runs now—his true economy from 2022 to 2024 is 0.19, compared to 0.7 from 2018 to 2021. He is 34, but an Indian spinner with a wealth of experience in the IPL and internationals—though he is not a part of the Indian setup these days—will continue to be a valuable asset. Rahul Chahar went for 0.5 runs an over less than expected, but picked up 0.19 wickets (per four overs) less. He is very experienced for a 25-year-old, but like Chahal is not a part of the Indian T20I side.

Wanindu Hasaranga was outstanding for RCB in the 2022 edition, had middling returns the next time, and did not play a game for SRH last year. His batting value is an added advantage, compared to the other overseas spinners. 

Next, we have two Indian wristspinners—Suyash Sharma and Mayank Markrande. Suyash is 21, and his true numbers are quite similar to Rahul Chahar, albeit over a small sample size. KKR already had two of the best spinners in the league, which meant he did not get as many opportunities. Markande is 27, so now could be the right time to invest in him. He went for runs in the previous cycle, but took 0.25 wickets more than expected.

Although Piyush Chawla has bowled a bit more than half the deliveries Chahal has, his true numbers are better. The veteran spinner performed very well for Mumbai Indians in the last two seasons, but he will turn 35 in December. Karn Sharma is 37, and did not have a great run in this time period—he took more wickets than expected, but also went for a run and a half more per over.

We have talked about how IPL teams don’t tend to go for overseas spinners. Zampa has a pretty solid IPL record in the few games he has played—29 wickets in 20 games at just under eight runs an over. Depending upon the type of home wickets and squad construction, he could still be a vital addition to the line-up. Similarly, teams could also consider signing Adil Rashid, who also adds some lower-order batting. Livingstone will not be picked with his bowling as the main reason, but he will be a useful matchup option.

Maheesh Theekshana is 24, but also an overseas spinner who does not bat. He took fewer wickets than expected, but also had the best true economy of all bowlers classified as offspinners in the last three seasons. The Sri Lankan spinner bowls in all phases, and his numbers also hold up in T20Is and other leagues.

Noor Ahmad was the only left-arm wristspinner other than Kuldeep in the previous mega auction cycle. He had a true economy of 0.88 with positive true wickets. Like Theekshana, he can also bowl in all phases, but his best work is from overs 7 to 16.

Mujeeb has a wealth of T20 experience, with 257 wickets in 241 matches. However, he did not play a single IPL game since the 2022 edition. Ghazanfar has had an outstanding start to his ODI career, though the 18-year-old from Afghanistan has not played a lot of T20s yet. KKR also signed him last season when Mujeeb was ruled out due to an injury. Shamsi has been among the wickets in T20 cricket since 2021. But like Mujeeb, he also hasn’t played a single IPL game in this duration.

Let’s finally talk about the most frequent form of bowling—right-arm pace. These bowlers bowl about 50% of all deliveries in T20 cricket. But this is also the most unforgiving format for them. Since the batters face so much of it growing up, if they don't bowl well, they’re usually smashed. 

Josh Hazlewood seems to be the safest pick as the best right-arm quick at the mega auction. Although he missed the last season, we know that he has gotten better at T20 cricket in recent years. But he hasn’t played it a lot since the start of 2023. Kagiso Rabada can bowl in all phases. Mohammed Shami was among the top wicket-takers of the last mega auction cycle, despite missing the last season.

No one knows which version of Mohammed Siraj will turn up on a given day. In the last IPL cycle, he was bad in 2022, great in 2023 and middling in 2024. On top of that, looking at the recent home season, he has not been bowling that fast. When he is consistently bowling in the 135 to 145 range, he is a very different bowler to when he bowls in the low 130s. Even with all the caveats, finding an Indian right-arm seamer of his quality is rare. He isn’t always reliable as the leader of an attack, but he would be a frontline bowler in most IPL teams. 

Avesh Khan was really good when he played for Delhi, and that translated to the 2022 season where he performed very well. Since then, he hasn't been as effective in T20s. But he still has a true economy of 0.1 in the three-year cycle, and he picked up 19 wickets at 9.6 runs per over in 16 matches in 2024.

Prasidh Krishna had a true economy of 0.28 and -0.07 true wickets. He was most impactful in the Powerplay in this cycle, but he also has the skills to do well in the other two phases of the innings. Speaking of effective new ball bowlers, Vaibhav Arora's early wickets for KKR were an important factor behind their success in the 2024 edition.

Anrich Nortje conceded 0.67 runs per over more than expected, and took 0.17 fewer wickets. He had a terrible IPL season in 2024, but was very good in the T20 World Cup. Nathan Ellis was not used well by Punjab Kings. He has good true numbers from the few games he has played. He looked in control, and batters still don't pick his slower ball that well.

It wasn't that long ago that Mohit Sharma had an incredible renaissance. But he is 36 now, and struggled last season. It seemed like he was not getting the revolutions on his slower ball last time. He could still be a value for money pick at the auction.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar is now a defensive bowler. You could make a case for him being ahead of Mohit Sharma on this list, but he has not picked up a lot of wickets in the first six overs in recent seasons. But it really depends on what the team needs.

Harshal Patel can be a reliable wicket taker, but he needs to be in a bowling attack that can hold the flow of runs. If he gets back the revolutions on his slower ball, that would make him very good.

A quick word on a couple of overseas quicks we did not add on this list. Jofra Archer has been added to the IPL 2025 auction list. Naveen-ul-Haq has also shown that he can be effective in all phases of a T20 game.