18 seasons. 18 different bowling stories. One award that has gone to Pakistani pacers, 40-year-old spinners, Australian knuckleball specialists, and a man who matched the single-season wicket record nobody had touched for 8 years.
The 32-wicket ceiling was built in 2013 and matched once since. That ceiling itself is the record, because no one has gone past it.
Here is every Purple Cap winner, every number, and what made each season different.
IPL Purple Cap Winners: Full List From 2008 to 2026
Every winner, every season, every wicket counts in one place.
| Season | Player | Team | Matches | Wickets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Sohail Tanvir | Rajasthan Royals | 11 | 22 |
| 2009 | RP Singh | Deccan Chargers | 16 | 23 |
| 2010 | Pragyan Ojha | Deccan Chargers | 16 | 21 |
| 2011 | Lasith Malinga | Mumbai Indians | 16 | 28 |
| 2012 | Morne Morkel | Delhi Daredevils | 16 | 25 |
| 2013 | Dwayne Bravo | Chennai Super Kings | 18 | 32 |
| 2014 | Mohit Sharma | Chennai Super Kings | 16 | 23 |
| 2015 | Dwayne Bravo | Chennai Super Kings | 16 | 26 |
| 2016 | Bhuvneshwar Kumar | Sunrisers Hyderabad | 17 | 23 |
| 2017 | Bhuvneshwar Kumar | Sunrisers Hyderabad | 14 | 26 |
| 2018 | Andrew Tye | Kings XI Punjab | 14 | 24 |
| 2019 | Imran Tahir | Chennai Super Kings | 17 | 26 |
| 2020 | Kagiso Rabada | Delhi Capitals | 17 | 30 |
| 2021 | Harshal Patel | Royal Challengers Bangalore | 15 | 32 |
| 2022 | Yuzvendra Chahal | Rajasthan Royals | 17 | 27 |
| 2023 | Mohammed Shami | Gujarat Titans | 17 | 28 |
| 2024 | Harshal Patel | Punjab Kings | 14 | 24 |
| 2025 | Prasidh Krishna | Gujarat Titans | 15 | 25 |
1. Sohail Tanvir | Rajasthan Royals | 22 Wickets | 2008
Nobody had played an IPL match before 2008. No benchmark existed. No blueprint for what a dominant bowling season looked like. Tanvir built that definition from scratch.
His left-arm angle created awkward movement that right-handers simply could not line up, and his late swing with the new ball made powerplay overs genuinely dangerous for any batter sent to face him.
The 6/14 against Chennai Super Kings set the best bowling figures in IPL history at the time, a record that held for over a decade until Alzarri Joseph took 6/12 in 2019.
Eleven games. No other Purple Cap winner has done it in fewer. An average of 12.09 in a format specifically designed to punish bowlers tells you how completely he dominated.
| Matches | Wickets | Economy | Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | 22 | 6.46 | 12.09 |
2. RP Singh | Deccan Chargers | 23 Wickets | 2009
The entire tournament was moved to South Africa due to the Indian elections.
Most players spent weeks adjusting to unfamiliar conditions. Singh looked immediately at home.
Left-arm seam in South African conditions gives a natural edge: the ball swings more, the pitches offer extra pace, and the angle troubles right-handers from around the wicket. Singh used all three throughout the tournament.
His powerplay spells set early pressure that the Deccan Chargers built on match after match. An economy of 6.98 across 16 games showed he was not just picking up wickets but also actively controlling the scoring.
In the final against Royal Challengers Bangalore, he took four wickets and sealed Deccan’s only IPL title. First Indian bowler to win the Purple Cap, and one of only three in IPL history to win the award and the championship in the same season.
| Matches | Wickets | Economy | Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | 23 | 6.98 | 18.13 |
3. Pragyan Ojha | Deccan Chargers | 21 Wickets | 2010
A left-arm spinner. Topping the bowling charts. On flat Indian pitches. That had never happened in IPL cricket before this season, and it took nine more years for another spinner to manage it.
Ojha’s 7.29 economy across 16 matches showed the control he maintained on surfaces where batters expect to dominate slow bowling freely.
What made him effective was not pace or bounce but the angle his left arm created across right-handers and the ability to trouble left-handers with a sharp turn into the stumps. He varied his length intelligently through the middle overs, avoiding the slot that invited easy sweep shots.
Deccan Chargers had a solid bowling unit that year, but Ojha was their most consistent wicket-taker from start to finish.
| Matches | Wickets | Economy | Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | 21 | 7.29 | 20.42 |
4. Lasith Malinga | Mumbai Indians | 28 Wickets | 2011
There is one number from his 2011 season that matters more than the wicket tally. 5.95. That economy rate is the lowest ever recorded by a Purple Cap winner across all 18 IPL seasons, and nobody has come close since.
His sling action produced yorkers that batters could not read off the pitch until it was already too late to adjust.
Unlike most death bowlers who struggle with economy in the powerplay, Malinga was equally threatening from ball one of the innings.
That combination of powerplay effectiveness and death-over control across 16 full matches is why 28 wickets and a 5.95 economy existed in the same season.
The 28-wicket tally was also the highest in a single IPL season at that point. Two records from one campaign, and the economy one has aged better than either.
| Matches | Wickets | Economy | Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | 28 | 5.95 | 13.39 |
5. Morne Morkel | Delhi Daredevils | 25 Wickets | 2012
Height in fast bowling is an underrated weapon. At 6’5″, Morkel generated a steep bounce that most Indian pitches were not built to assist, but he found it anyway throughout this campaign.
The extra lift created real technical problems. Shot-making became uncomfortable because the ball did not arrive at the height batters had calculated. His best figures of 4/20 against the Kolkata Knight Riders showed what that combination produced on a good day.
A strike rate of 15.12 across 16 matches means he broke partnerships roughly every 15 deliveries, which is a steady and damaging rate across an entire tournament. His economy of 7.29 showed the runs did not flow cheaply either.
Morkel became the first South African to win the Purple Cap and later joined India’s coaching staff as a bowling coach, reflecting how deeply he understood the craft beyond his own playing days.
| Matches | Wickets | Economy | Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | 25 | 7.29 | 18.12 |
6. Dwayne Bravo | Chennai Super Kings | 32 Wickets | 2013
32 wickets in 18 matches. One bowler matched it eight years later. Nobody has passed it. That ceiling has stood for 12 years and counting.
Bravo’s death bowling in 2013 was not about pace. It was about the batter never knowing what was coming. Slower balls are arriving later than expected.
Wide yorkers landing precisely outside off stump with no hitting room. Deliberate pace changes mid-over destroyed timing completely.
MS Dhoni trusted him with the most pressure-filled overs in the most critical matches, and Bravo delivered consistently across 18 games.
What separates this season from other high-wicket campaigns is the sustained effectiveness throughout a long tournament, not two or three brilliant individual performances but relentless output from the first match to the last.
By IPL’s official tiebreaker on economy rate, Bravo holds this record above Harshal Patel, who matched 32 wickets in 2021.
| Matches | Wickets | Economy | Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18 | 32 | 7.95 | 15.53 |
7. Mohit Sharma | Chennai Super Kings | 23 Wickets | 2014
CSK’s third different Purple Cap winner across seven seasons. No other franchise has shown that kind of depth in producing top wicket-takers across a similar period.
Mohit Sharma was not a headline name before 2014. Right-arm medium pace, swing with the new ball in the opening overs, slower cutters at the death on surfaces where the ball stops and sits.
Those two skills brought him 23 wickets in 16 matches without the kind of raw pace that usually attracts attention. He picked up wickets in tight situations throughout the tournament, not only in comfortable match conditions but when CSK genuinely needed a breakthrough under pressure. His IPL 2014 performances were compelling enough to earn him a first India call-up later that same year.
| Matches | Wickets | Economy | Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | 23 | 8.40 | 19.65 |
8. Dwayne Bravo | Chennai Super Kings | 26 Wickets | 2015
Two years after 32 wickets. Same team. Same captain. Same death-over role. Second Purple Cap.
Bravo became the first bowler in IPL history to win the award twice, and the fact that both came for the same franchise under the same captain tells a clear story about how MS Dhoni used him. When the match was tight, and the opposition needed 14 or 15 off the final two overs, Bravo had the ball.
26 wickets in 16 matches across a tournament where CSK reached the final, built on that exact pattern. Wide yorkers and slower balls in the death overs, delivered without hesitation under any level of match pressure.
In 2013 and 2015 combined, he took 58 wickets for Chennai Super Kings, making him the most impactful death bowler the franchise has used in its IPL history.
| Matches | Wickets | Economy | Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | 26 | 8.15 | 21.66 |
9. Bhuvneshwar Kumar | Sunrisers Hyderabad | 23 Wickets | 2016
Not just a Purple Cap. A Purple Cap and an IPL title in the same season. Only three bowlers across 18 years of IPL have achieved that combination together.
His 2016 campaign was built on new-ball swing, accurate middle-over lines, and clean death-over execution.
The economy of 7.42 across 17 matches, including knockout games where margins are smallest, shows he held his control when the pressure was at its highest. SRH won their maiden IPL title that season, with Bhuvneshwar anchoring the bowling attack throughout.
He moved the ball both ways in powerplay overs consistently, which put batting sides under early pressure before they had settled.
The title and the Purple Cap in the same season made 2016 the defining campaign of his entire IPL career.
| Matches | Wickets | Economy | Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17 | 23 | 7.42 | 21.30 |
10. Bhuvneshwar Kumar | Sunrisers Hyderabad | 26 Wickets | 2017
No bowler had won back-to-back Purple Caps before this season. Fourteen editions have passed since. It still has not happened again.
Three fewer matches than 2016. Three more wickets. Economy of 7.05, lower than the previous year. Strike rate of 12.07 means a wicket roughly every 12 deliveries across the full tournament.
The swing and accuracy that defined 2016 sharpened further the following year, and he added more deliberate variations at the death, making him harder to predict as an opposition planner.
Both seasons for the same franchise make this the most dominant back-to-back bowling run by any single bowler in IPL history.
| Matches | Wickets | Economy | Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | 26 | 7.05 | 14.19 |
11. Andrew Tye | Kings XI Punjab | 24 Wickets | 2018
Before IPL 2018, Tye was largely unknown outside Australian domestic cricket. 14 matches later, batters had a very clear idea of what they wanted to avoid.
The knuckleball was his primary weapon. Not seam movement. Not swing. A delivery released with the same action as a faster ball but arriving slower than any batter had calculated, producing mistimed shots and false strokes throughout.
What made his campaign stand apart from other variation bowlers is that he was effective across all three phases: powerplay, middle overs, and death.
Most slower-ball specialists get found out in at least one of those phases. Tye did not. An average of 18.67 showed he was taking wickets under genuine pressure, not just running through tail-enders or picking up easy ones in dead games.
His 24-wicket season remains one of the best records by an Australian bowler across all 18 IPL editions.
| Matches | Wickets | Economy | Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | 24 | 8.00 | 18.67 |
12. Imran Tahir | Chennai Super Kings | 26 Wickets | 2019
40 years old. 26 wickets. Economy of 6.69. The oldest player to win the IPL Purple Cap and one of the most economical on this entire list.
At that age, in a format that punishes spin heavily in every phase, Tahir was both a wicket-taker and a run-controller simultaneously. His googlies and leg-breaks deceived experienced middle-order batters who had faced top wrist-spin for years at the international level.
The average of 16.58 told the same story: these were quality wickets, not tail-end pickups. CSK reached the IPL 2019 final with Tahir functioning as their most reliable bowling option across all 17 matches of their campaign.
His wicket celebrations, a full sprint across the outfield regardless of the match situation, became as recognisable that season as the deliveries that preceded them.
| Matches | Wickets | Economy | Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17 | 26 | 6.69 | 16.58 |
13. Kagiso Rabada | Delhi Capitals | 30 Wickets | 2020
30 wickets in a single IPL season. Across 18 editions, only two bowlers have ever taken more.
The 2020 IPL was held entirely in the UAE. Rabada used the hard, bouncy pitches and dry conditions to generate steep lift, high pace, and reverse swing in the later overs of the innings. His best figures were 4/24 in a single match. An economy of 8.34 and an average of 18.27 held across 17 full games in conditions he was experiencing for the first time that season.
Delhi Capitals reached the IPL final for the very first time in franchise history. His 30-wicket campaign across 17 matches was the clearest single reason they got there.
| Matches | Wickets | Economy | Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17 | 30 | 8.34 | 18.27 |
14. Harshal Patel | Royal Challengers Bangalore | 32 Wickets | 2021
Same number as Bravo. Three fewer matches to reach it. The lowest bowling average among all 18 Purple Cap winners.
Harshal’s 2021 season is best understood by his average of 14.34, the lowest on this list. Every wicket cost fewer than 15 runs on average across 15 matches and 32 dismissals in a format where 20 is widely considered a solid average.
His slower balls were hard to pick because the release point and bowling action looked identical to his faster delivery until the ball was already through the air.
Off-pace bouncers landed at awkward heights. Dipping yorkers found the stumps when batters braced for full pace. By IPL’s official tiebreaker on economy rate, Bravo holds the record. But Harshal’s 14.34 average is a number Bravo’s 2013 season cannot match.
| Matches | Wickets | Economy | Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 | 32 | 8.14 | 14.34 |
15. Yuzvendra Chahal | Rajasthan Royals | 27 Wickets | 2022
RCB released him at the mega auction. He then had his best IPL season with a completely different team.
27 wickets in 17 matches at an economy of 7.75 and an average of 19.52. His hat-trick against Kolkata Knight Riders came with match figures of 5/40, making him the only bowler in IPL history to take a hat-trick and win the Purple Cap in the same season.
Chahal’s effectiveness comes from subtle variations in flight, a sharp googly that lands on a length batters expect to dominate, and a flipper that skids through lower and faster than they anticipate.
He is the only leg-spinner across all 18 Purple Cap seasons. His 2022 campaign was also the season in which he became the highest overall wicket-taker in IPL history.
| Matches | Wickets | Economy | Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17 | 27 | 7.75 | 19.52 |
16. Mohammed Shami | Gujarat Titans | 28 Wickets | 2023
No wrist spin. No knuckleball. No clever trick deliveries. Just an upright seam, repeatable length, and movement off the pitch that created doubt the moment the ball landed.
28 wickets across 17 matches at an economy of 8.03 and an average of 18.64. His powerplay spells were the clearest strength of this campaign.
An upright seam position bowled at genuine pace produces movement both ways off the surface, and Shami’s ability to land the same delivery length after length in the first six overs made him the most threatening new-ball bowler in IPL 2023.
Gujarat Titans reached the final that year with Shami leading the attack from the opening match to the last game of their season. This was the best single-season bowling record of his entire IPL career.
| Matches | Wickets | Economy | Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17 | 28 | 8.03 | 18.64 |
17. Harshal Patel | Punjab Kings | 24 Wickets | 2024
A second Purple Cap. A different franchise. A record that belongs entirely to him alone.
Harshal is the only bowler in IPL history to win the Purple Cap for two different teams. 24 wickets in 14 matches for Punjab Kings at an economy of 9.73 and an average of 19.88. His best figures of 3/15 came against the Gujarat Titans.
The economy was higher than his 2021 RCB season, but the death-over effectiveness and slower ball execution remained sharp. The variations that made him nearly unplayable in 2021 were just as functional three years later under a completely different franchise and with an entirely different set of teammates around him.
He joined Bravo and Bhuvneshwar Kumar as the only three bowlers in IPL history to win the Purple Cap more than once.
| Matches | Wickets | Economy | Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | 24 | 9.73 | 19.88 |
18. Prasidh Krishna | Gujarat Titans | 25 Wickets | 2025
Three bowlers were in genuine contention going into the final stages of IPL 2025. Krishna finished ahead of all of them.
25 wickets in 15 matches, clear of Noor Ahmad’s 24 for CSK and Trent Boult’s 22 for Mumbai Indians. Economy of 8.27, average of 19.52 across the full tournament.
His primary weapon throughout was a hard, back-of-length delivery, bowled consistently between 140 and 145 kmph, that created problems on every surface.
That length sits in the zone where batters cannot drive comfortably or pull cleanly, producing mistimed shots and top edges throughout the season.
He became the second Gujarat Titans bowler to win the Purple Cap after Shami in 2023, and the seventh Indian overall to take the award.
| Matches | Wickets | Economy | Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 | 25 | 8.27 | 19.52 |
Bowlers With Multiple IPL Purple Caps
Only three bowlers have won it more than once in 18 seasons.
| Player | Seasons | Teams | Caps |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dwayne Bravo | 2013, 2015 | CSK, CSK | 2 |
| Bhuvneshwar Kumar | 2016, 2017 | SRH, SRH | 2 |
| Harshal Patel | 2021, 2024 | RCB, PBKS | 2 |
- Bhuvneshwar Kumar is the only bowler to win it in back-to-back seasons.
- Harshal Patel is the only bowler to win it for two different franchises.
- Bravo won his two caps two years apart, both for the same side.
Team-Wise IPL Purple Cap Count
KKR and LSG are the only current franchises yet to produce a Purple Cap winner.
| Team | Wins | Winners |
|---|---|---|
| Chennai Super Kings | 4 | Bravo (2013, 2015), Mohit Sharma (2014), Imran Tahir (2019) |
| Sunrisers Hyderabad | 2 | Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2016, 2017) |
| Gujarat Titans | 2 | Mohammed Shami (2023), Prasidh Krishna (2025) |
| Deccan Chargers | 2 | RP Singh (2009), Pragyan Ojha (2010) |
| Rajasthan Royals | 2 | Sohail Tanvir (2008), Yuzvendra Chahal (2022) |
| Delhi Daredevils / Capitals | 2 | Morne Morkel (2012), Kagiso Rabada (2020) |
| Mumbai Indians | 1 | Lasith Malinga (2011) |
| Kings XI Punjab / PBKS | 2 | Andrew Tye (2018), Harshal Patel (2024) |
| Royal Challengers Bangalore | 1 | Harshal Patel (2021) |
Key IPL Purple Cap Records
The numbers, firsts, and records that define the Purple Cap across 18 IPL seasons.
| Record | Detail |
|---|---|
| Most wickets in a single season | 32, jointly by Dwayne Bravo (2013, 18 matches) and Harshal Patel (2021, 15 matches). Bravo holds the official record by IPL tiebreaker on economy rate |
| Fewest matches to win | 11, Sohail Tanvir in 2008 |
| Most wickets in the fewest games | Harshal Patel, 32 wickets in 15 matches (2021) |
| Oldest winner | Imran Tahir, 40 years old (2019) |
| Best economy among all winners | 5.95, Lasith Malinga (2011) |
| Only back-to-back winner | Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2016 and 2017) |
| Purple Cap with IPL title, same season | Sohail Tanvir (2008), RP Singh (2009), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2016) |
| First spinner to win | Pragyan Ojha (2010) |
| Only leg-spinner to win | Yuzvendra Chahal (2022) |
| Won for two different franchises | Harshal Patel, RCB (2021) and PBKS (2024) |
| Pace vs Spin split | Pacers: 15 wins, Spinners: 3 wins |
| Teams with no Purple Cap winner | KKR and LSG |
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Conclusion: CSK Has Produced the Most IPL Purple Cap Winners
Four Purple Cap seasons. Four different campaigns. All for Chennai Super Kings. No franchise in IPL history has produced more top wicket-takers than CSK across 18 editions. Bravo did it twice, Mohit Sharma and Imran Tahir added one each.
Beyond CSK, pace has dominated this award across 18 seasons; spinners have broken through only three times, and three bowlers have won it more than once.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar remains the only bowler to win back-to-back. The 32-wicket record, set in 2013, has been matched once and never crossed.
FAQs
Three bowlers share the record with two each: Dwayne Bravo (2013, 2015), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2016, 2017), and Harshal Patel (2021, 2024).
32 wickets, held jointly by Dwayne Bravo (2013) and Harshal Patel (2021). Bravo holds the official record under IPL tiebreaker rules based on economy rate.
Chennai Super Kings have won the Purple Cap four times. Dwayne Bravo won it twice for CSK, with Mohit Sharma (2014) and Imran Tahir (2019) each adding one.
Prasidh Krishna of the Gujarat Titans, with 25 wickets in 15 matches at an economy of 8.27.
Three times. Pragyan Ojha was the first in 2010, followed by Imran Tahir in 2019, and Yuzvendra Chahal in 2022. Chahal is the only leg-spinner on the list.
Kolkata Knight Riders and Lucknow Super Giants.
Lasith Malinga, with an economy of 5.95 during his 28-wicket season for Mumbai Indians in 2011.
