Lucknow Super Giants’ (LSG) leg-spinner Amit Mishra has surpassed Sri Lankan legend Lasith Malinga to become the third-highest wicket-taker in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Mishra, 40, achieved the feat during his side’s IPL 2023 match against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in Lucknow on Monday evening.
The veteran leggie fully utilised the spin-friendly conditions at the Ekana stadium and ended with figures of 2/21 from his quota of four overs. Mishra picked the wickets of Suyash Prabhudessai and skipper Faf Du Plessis.
In 160 IPL matches so far in his career, Mishra has scalped 172 wickets at an average of 23.75 and with an economy rate of 7.34 while his best bowling figures are 5/17.
The leggie has been performing well in the ongoing IPL season as he has picked six wickets from as many games at an average of 18.16 and an economy rate of 7.26.
Mishra’s best bowling figures this season are 2/21.
Notably, the top-five wicket-takers in the history of the cash-rich league are: Dwayne Bravo (183 wickets), Yuzvendra Chahal (178 wickets), Mishra, Lasith Malinga (170 wickets) and Piyush Chawla (170 wickets).
In the low-scoring affair on Monday, RCB were reduced to a modest 126/9 in their allotted 20 overs. Besides skipper Faf Du Plessis (44 in 40 balls) and Virat Kohli (31 in 30 balls), all other RCB batters failed to fire as they struggled in spin-friendly conditions.
For the home side, pacer Naveen-ul-Haq was the pick of the bowlers, taking 3/30 in his four overs while Mishra took 2/21 in his four overs and Bishnoi got similar figures in three overs. Meanwhile, Krishnappa Gowtham also took a wicket as well.
In return, LSG batters too, succumbed before disciplined RCB bowlers, who also used the conditions to the fullest and wrapped up their opponents at 108 runs to set up an 18 run victory.