With his 3/15, Gujarat Titans' pacer Sandeep Warrier now has the best bowling figures for a Kerala player in the Indian Premier League.
He bettered the previous best figures of 3/29 held by both S Sreesanth (2008) and Basil Thampi (2017). Former Kerala left-arm pacer Prasanth Parameswaran had a 3/30 in RCB colours against Delhi Daredevils in 2012.
Sreesanth produced his best bowling figures for Kings XI Punjab against RCB while Thampi's 3/29 came for Gujarat Lions against Mumbai Indians. Thampi secured 11 wickets from 12 matches in 2017 to secure the IPL's Emerging Player Award.
Warrier's performance in New Delhi on Wednesday was also the best by a Titans player in the match. In his first over, Warrier leaked 12 runs as Jake Fraser-McGurk whipped him for a six and a four in successive deliveries. But the right-arm pacer came back strong with a couple of wickets in his second over.
Fraser-McGurk was caught at deep backward square leg by Noor Ahmad, who produced yet another terrific catch to dismiss Prithvi Shaw three balls later and give Warrier his second wicket. Warrier only leaked two runs in his second over. The improved showing prompted captain Shubman Gill to let him continue the spell, which turned out to be just as incredible. Warrier conceded just one run and removed Shai Hope, again caught in the deep.
The Titans could not capitalise on the great start as Rishabh Pant and Axar Patel combined to propel the Capitals to a big score. He wasn't given a fourth over and made way for impact substitute Sai Sudharsan.
Credit to the Titans for not dropping Warrier after he leaked 21 runs from an over in his previous match, against the Punjab Kings on April 21. He had made his Titans debut on April 17 in Ahmedabad against the Capitals and secured 2/40 from three overs. He had been included in the Titans squad as a replacement for the injured Mohammed Shami.
The 33-year-old, who played several years for Kerala, now represents Tamil Nadu in the domestic circuit. He has played one T20I for India.
In the IPL, Warrier was part of the Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore squads. His previous best IPL tally was two wickets (2019) for KKR. This season, he already has five wickets from three matches.