Which bowler has dismissed Virat Kohli the most times in IPL history?

If there is one wicket that any IPL bowler must prize above all others it is surely that of Virat Kohli but who out of the 400+ bowlers to play in the IPL has dismissed Kohli the most number of times?

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The below table shows the bowlers who have gotten Kohli out the most in the IPL

BowlerWickets
Sandeep Sharma7
Ashish Nehra6
Mitch McClenaghan4
Mohammed Shami4
Dhawal Kulkarni4

Only 5 bowlers in the history of the IPL have dismissed Kohli on 4 separate occasions but way out in front is current Sunrisers Hyderabad left-armer Sandeep Sharma who has claimed the prize scalp of Kohli a record 7 times. Given that Ashish Nehra has long since retired and with only Mohammed Shami in the chasing pack likely to play any significant IPL cricket in the near future then it seems likely that Sharma will hold onto this title at least for the the next few years if not longer.

Of course, all 5 players have had relatively long careers meaning the opportunity to get Kohli out has been greater than others. If we break it down to strike rate we see the following bowlers who have experienced success against Kohli to the extend of having a strike rate of under 10 against the great man. Here Shami just sneaks ahead in the stakes for the most successful bowler v Virat Kohli.

BowlerBallsWicketsStrike Rate
M Shami3147.75
S Sharma5577.86
L Balaji2538.33
K Pollard2638.67
A Nehra5469.00
S Gopal2839.33
R Harris1929.50
minimum 10 balls bowled v V Kohli

With T20 bowling being as much about restricting batsmen as getting them out, we also need to consider which bowlers have limited Kohli’s scoring more than any other in IPL history.

BowlerBallsRuns Kohli’s S/R
S Warne281657.14
S Watson251976.00
MM Patel252080.00
S Sreesanth292482.76
J Kallis342985.29

Above are the bowlers that Virat Kohli has the lowest strike rate against when playing in the IPL. The list this time is headed up by another legend of the game albeit from an early era in the form of Shane Warne who successfully limited King Kohli to a paltry 16 runs from the 28 balls he bowled (1 dismissal).

There have also been 2 bowlers so far in IPL history who have taken the wicket of Virat Kohli with their one and only ball against him in the competition. They include New Zealand seamer Doug Bracewell who only played a single game in the IPL despite taking 32 for 3 on debut including the wicket of Kohli and Abu Nechim Ahmed another right arm bowler who played a handful of games for Mumbai Indians before then transferring to Royal Challenger Bangalore effectively ending any chance to get Kohli a 2nd time.

Published by Statman Tom

Cricket Lover and Writer

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