Gujarat Titans’ South African pacer Kagiso Rabada has become the highest wicket-taker in the first 6 overs of the Indian Premier League in a single season. Rabada achieved this incredible feat by taking the wicket of Royal Challengers Bengaluru opener Venkatesh Iyer
Published: May 26, 2026 8:17 PM IST
Gujarat Titans’ South African pacer Kagiso Rabada has become the highest wicket-taker in the first 6 overs of the Indian Premier League in a single season. Rabada achieved this incredible feat by taking the wicket of Royal Challengers Bengaluru opener Venkatesh Iyer in the 2nd over of Qualifier 1 of IPL 2026 at the scenic HPCA Stadium in Dharamshala.
After Gujarat captain Shubman Gill won the toss and elected to bowl first, Venkatesh got RCB off to a flying start, hitting 3 fours off Mohammed Siraj’s first over which went for 14 runs. In the 2nd over, Purple Cap (most wickets) contender Kagiso Rabada was handed the ball to cause immediate pressure and the South African delivered.
After conceding only 1 run in the first 4 balls, Kagiso Rabada was hit for a six by Venkatesh Iyer who played a ramp shot over fine leg to put the pressure back on Gujarat. However, Rabada had the last laugh as he trapped Iyer with a back of the length delivery which took a leading edge and went high towards mid-off where Shubman Gill completed a commendable backward running catch.
That ended Venkatesh Iyer’s opening cameo of 19 runs off 7, helping Kagiso Rabada surpass Mohammed Shami in the list of most wickets in the powerplay of a single IPL edition. This was the South African’s 18th scalp in the first six overs this year.
Senior India pacer Mohammed Shami had 17 wickets in 2023 whereas Mitchell Johnson and Trent Boult registered 16 scalps each in 2013 and 2020 respectively.
At the time of writing, RCB were 83/1 after 6.4 overs.
RCB Vs GT, IPL 2026 Qualifier 1: Playing XIs
Royal Challengers Bengaluru XI: Venkatesh Iyer, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (C), Jitesh Sharma (WK), Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jacob Duffy, Josh Hazlewood, Rasikh Salam Dar.
Impact subs: Romario Shepherd, Suyash Sharma, Kanishk Chouhan, Abhinandan Singh, Jordan Cox.
Gujarat Titans XI: Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (C), Jos Buttler (WK), Washington Sundar, Nishant Sindhu, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Kulwant Khejroliya, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna.
Impact subs: Rahul Tewatia, Glenn Phillips, Anuj Rawat, Kumar Kushagra, Sai Kishore.
