Rajasthan Royals (RR) made history in the Indian Premier League (IPL 2023) game against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) when he picked the wicket of home team captain Nitish Rana. Chahal lured Rana into playing a sweep which eventually resulted in his fall as Shimron Hetmyer completed a brilliant catch in the deep. With this wicket, Chahal became the leading wicket-taker in IPL history. Ahead of the KKR vs RR clash, Chahal needed just one wicket to get past former Chennai Super Kings (CSK) all-rounder Dwayne Bravo, who had the record to his name with 183 wickets. Chahal removed him from the top with the Rana wicket.

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Who are the top 5 leading wicket-takers in IPL history?

The list of leading wicket-takers in IPL is dominated by the spinners, especially the leg-spinners. Chahal now sits atop with 186 wickets in IPL. As told earlier, Bravo is second in the list (183) followed by Piyush Chawla (174 wickets). Another leggie Amit Mishra, who is playing for Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in IPL 2023, is fourth on the list with 172 wickets. RR spinner R Ashwin is in fifth spot with 171 wickets.

Chahal pushed KKR on the back foot

After picking Rana's wicket, Chahal was taken to the cleaners by KKR star Venkatesh Iyer in the next. He was taken off instantly and came back only in the 17th over of the innings. But Chahal had his thinking cap back on. He dismissed two KKR batters in this over in the form of dangerous Iyer and Shardul Thakur, to take his tally to 186 wickets. In the last over of his spell, Chahal dismissed another well-settled batter, Rinku Singh. Chahal finished his spell with four wickets for 25 runs from four overs.

Yuzi Chahal gets the Purple Cap

RR restricted KKR to just 149 for 8 in 20 overs. Chahal was the chief architect. His four wickets also helped him get the Purple Cap for the first time in IPL. Chahal now has 21 wickets from 12 matches, two more than Gujarat Titans' Mohammed Shami.