Here we consider some of the records associated with the best bowlers vs left handed batsmen in the history of IPL cricket. This will include the all time leading wicket taker in the IPL vs left handers as well the best strike rate, economy rate, average and percentage of total wickets against left handers in the IPL.
All stats accurate as of 8th April 2021
Let’s start with the top line stat of the all-time leading wicket taker vs left handers. A record dominated by players who have taken a lot of IPL wickets full stop
Most wickets vs left handers in the IPL
| Bowler | Total wickets vs left handed batsmen |
| L Malinga | 61 |
| Harbhajan Singh | 55 |
| R Ashwin | 46 |
| DJ Bravo | 45 |
| PP Chawla | 41 |
With match-ups being a big part of T20 cricket, it’s no great surprise to see 2 off-spinners near the top of the list for most wickets against left handed batsmen in the IPL. Some bowlers though have taken that speciality even further and below we look at the percentage of total wickets vs left handers again a list dominated by right arm finger spin.
% of total IPL wickets vs left-handed batsmen
| Bowler | % total wickets vs left handed batsmen |
| RR Powar | 69.23% |
| GJ Maxwell | 68.42% |
| YK Pathan | 54.76% |
| JP Duminy | 52.17% |
| SK Raina | 52.00% |
A brief mention for current Mumbai Indians bowler Jayant Yadav who just misses out on the above list by virtue of not having quite bowled 200 balls against lefties (he’s bowled 156 to date) and so far in his IPL career all his wickets (6) have been come against left handed batsmen.
Moving on to look at who the best bowlers against left handers are by their strike rate bowling we see that unsurprisingly this is a record dominated by bowlers who bowl more overs towards the close of an innings in the IPL where the strike rate for all bowlers tends to drop.
Best strike rate and averages vs left handed batsmen
| Bowler | Strike Rate vs Left Handers |
| CH Morris | 12.94 |
| JC Archer | 14.33 |
| K Rabada | 14.63 |
| KV Sharma | 14.68 |
| SL Malinga | 14.74 |
With restricting of runs often just as important as taking wickets, the below table shows the records of bowlers who have been most economical in the IPL against left handed batsmen.
Best economy rate vs left handed batsmen
| Bowler | Economy rate vs left handers |
| R Ashwin | 6.27 |
| JP Duminy | 6.37 |
| Rashid Khan | 6.37 |
| M Muralitharan | 6.45 |
| A Kumble | 6.51 |
Again, a brief mention for SRH bolwer Mohammed Nabi who has an economy rate of 5.38 against left handed batsmen but has also only bowled 156 balls against them in his IPL career to date.
We finish things off then by considering the IPL bowlers with the best overall bowling average against southpaws.
Best average vs left handed batsmen
| Bowler | Strike rate vs left handers |
| SL Malinga | 16.08 |
| CH Morris | 16.44 |
| JC Archer | 17.78 |
| KV Sharma | 17.95 |
| NM Coulter-Nile | 19.00 |