What is a Dot ball?
A delivery bowled without any runs scored off it, so called because it is recorded in the score book with a single dot. Double.
Dot Ball is an art of stopping opposition batsman from scoring runs and it is a very important aspect for building burden. Because of dot balls pressure builds and batsman sometimes makes a mistake and loses a wicket.
Dot balls is most important aspect of cricket but often underappreciated. In shorter format these are indeed more prominent weapon and the consequent stingy spells help bowling side to hold the grip on the match.
T20 cricket is batsman dominated game where batsmen have upper hand over the bowlers. Whether its flat pitches, small boundaries or big bats all are in favor of batsmen. So, bowlers need to be bit cautious while bowling to big hitters of the game.
But over the years, bowlers have found different ways of adapting and coming out on top. They have found ways to build pressure on the batsmen and get them out. Bowling dot balls in T20 cricket is one of the most important aspects for a bowler.
Here is the List of Most Dot Balls bowled by bowlers during the IPL Seasons:
Bowlers with most Dot Balls in IPL 2008
| Player | O | M | Dots | Runs | Wkts | Opp. | Match Date |
|
Sohail Tanvir (RR) |
4 | 0 | 18 | 10 | 3 | RCB | 17-May-08 |
| Dale Steyn (RCB) | 4 | 0 | 18 | 28 | 2 | CSK | 21-May-08 |
| Shaun Pollock (MI) | 4 | 1 | 17 | 9 | 1 | CSK | 14-May-08 |
| Brett Lee (KXIP) | 4 | 0 | 17 | 9 | 1 | MI | 25-Apr-08 |
| Irfan Pathan (KXIP) | 4 | 0 | 17 | 10 | 1 | RR | 28-May-08 |
| Shaun Pollock (MI) | 4 | 0 | 17 | 12 | 3 | KKR | 16-May-08 |
| Dale Steyn (RCB) | 4 | 0 | 17 | 14 | 1 | MI | 28-May-08 |
| Sreesanth (KXIP) | 4 | 0 | 17 | 16 | 2 | RCB | 05-May-08 |
| Shane Watson (RR) | 4 | 0 | 17 | 19 | 1 | CSK | 04-May-08 |
| Vinay Kumar (RCB) | 4 | 0 | 17 | 27 | 3 | DC | 25-May-08 |
Bowlers with most Dot Balls in IPL 2009
| Player | O | M | Dots | Runs | Wkts | Opp. | Match Date |
| Ashish Nehra (DD) | 4 | 1 | 19 | 6 | 1 | KXIP | 15-May-09 |
| Munaf Patel (RR) | 4 | 0 | 19 | 14 | 2 | KKR | 20-May-09 |
| Dirk Nannes (DD) | 4 | 0 | 18 | 16 | 2 | DC | 30-Apr-09 |
| Ashok Dinda (KKR) | 4 | 0 | 17 | 12 | 0 | RR | 20-May-09 |
Bowlers with most Dot Balls in IPL 2010
| Player | O | M | Dots | Runs | Wkts | Opp. | Match Date |
| Doug Bollinger (CSK) | 4 | 1 | 17 | 13 | 4 | DC | 22-Apr-10 |
| Ravichandran Ashwin (CSK) | 4 | 0 | 17 | 13 | 2 | DC | 10-Apr-10 |
| Doug Bollinger (CSK) | 4 | 1 | 17 | 15 | 2 | KKR | 13-Apr-10 |
| Ramesh Powar (KXIP) | 4 | 0 | 17 | 25 | 0 | DD | 11-Apr-10 |
Bowlers with most Dot Balls in IPL 2011
| Player | O | M | Dots | Runs | Wkts | Opp. | Match Date |
| Morne Morkel (DD) | 4 | 0 | 18 | 32 | 1 | KXIP | 23-Apr-11 |
| Rahul Sharma (PWI) | 4 | 0 | 17 | 7 | 2 | MI | 04-May-11 |
| Rahul Sharma (PWI) | 4 | 1 | 17 | 13 | 3 | RR | 01-May-11 |
| RP Singh (KT) | 4 | 0 | 17 | 17 | 1 | RR | 15-May-11 |
| Munaf Patel (MI) | 4 | 1 | 17 | 18 | 2 | RR | 29-Apr-11 |
| Praveen Kumar (KXIP) | 4 | 1 | 17 | 19 | 2 | MI | 10-May-11 |
Bowlers with most Dot Balls in IPL 2012
| Player | O | M | Dots | Runs | Wkts | Opp. | Match Date |
| Dale Steyn (DC) | 4 | 0 | 18 | 8 | 3 | RCB | 20-May-12 |
| Dale Steyn (DC) | 4 | 0 | 17 | 10 | 2 | MI | 29-Apr-12 |
| Lasith Malinga (MI) | 4 | 0 | 17 | 13 | 2 | RR | 11-Apr-12 |
| Zaheer Khan (RCB) | 4 | 1 | 17 | 15 | 1 | RR | 15-Apr-12 |
| Ravindra Jadeja (CSK) | 4 | 0 | 17 | 16 | 5 | DC | 07-Apr-12 |
| Praveen Kumar (KXIP) | 4 | 0 | 17 | 19 | 0 | PWI | 12-Apr-12 |
| Brett Lee (KKR) | 4 | 0 | 17 | 21 | 0 | RCB | 10-Apr-12 |
Bowlers with most Dot Balls in IPL 2013
| Player | O | `M | Dots | Runs | Wkts | Opp. | Match Date |
| Amit Mishra (SRH) | 4 | 0 | 18 | 8 | 2 | RR | 17-May-13 |
| Praveen Kumar (KXIP) | 4 | 1 | 17 | 10 | 2 | RR | 14-Apr-13 |
| Sunil Narine (KKR) | 4 | 1 | 17 | 11 | 0 | SRH | 19-May-13 |
| Ryan Harris (KXIP) | 4 | 0 | 17 | 12 | 1 | PWI | 07-Apr-13 |
| RP Singh (RCB) | 4 | 0 | 17 | 13 | 3 | RR | 20-Apr-13 |
Bowlers with most Dot Balls in IPL 2014
| Player | O | M | Dots | Runs | Wkts | Opps. | Match Date |
| Bhuvneshwar Kumar (SRH) | 4 | 0 | 18 | 16 | 2 | RCB | 04-May-14 |
| Harbhajan Singh (MI) | 4 | 0 | 17 | 13 | 2 | RR | 19-May-14 |
| Bhuvneshwar Kumar (SRH) | 4 | 0 | 17 | 14 | 4 | RR | 08-May-14 |
| Ravichandran Ashwin (CSK) | 4 | 1 | 17 | 16 | 2 | RCB | 18-May-14 |
| Wayne Parnell (DD) | 4 | 0 | 17 | 17 | 1 | MI | 27-Apr-14 |
Bowlers with most Dot Balls in IPL 2015
| Player | O | M | Dots | Runs | Wkts | Opp. | Match Date |
| Zaheer Khan (DD) | 4 | 1 | 18 | 9 | 2 | CSK | 12-May-15 |
| Mitchell Johnson (KXIP) | 4 | 1 | 17 | 23 | 2 | MI | 12-Apr-15 |
| Ravichandran Ashwin (CSK) | 4 | 0 | 16 | 13 | 1 | RCB | 22-May-15 |
Bowlers with most Dot Balls in IPL 2016
| Player | O | M | Dots | Runs | Wkts | Opp. | Match Date |
| Dwayne Smith (GL) | 4 | 0 | 18 | 8 | 4 | KKR | 19-May-16 |
| Mustafizur Rahman (SRH) | 4 | 1 | 17 | 9 | 2 | KXIP | 23-Apr-16 |
| Rajat Bhatia (RPS) | 4 | 1 | 17 | 10 | 1 | MI | 09-Apr-16 |
| Zaheer Khan (DD) | 4 | 1 | 17 | 14 | 1 | KXIP | 15-Apr-16 |
| Sandeep Sharma (KXIP) | 4 | 0 | 16 | 11 | 2 | MI | 13-May-16 |
| Dhawal Kulkarni (GL) | 4 | 1 | 16 | 17 | 2 | SRH | 06-May-16 |
| Brad Hogg (KKR) | 4 | 1 | 16 | 19 | 3 | DD | 10-Apr-16 |
| Dhawal Kulkarni (GL) | 4 | 1 | 16 | 19 | 2 | MI | 16-Apr-16 |
| Piyush Chawla (KKR) | 4 | 0 | 16 | 21 | 2 | DD | 10-Apr-16 |
Bowlers with most Dot Balls in IPL 2017
| Player | O | M | Dots | Runs | Wkts | Opp. | Match Date |
| Lockie Ferguson (RPS) | 4 | 1 | 17 | 7 | 2 | RCB | 29-Apr-17 |
| Pawan Negi (RCB) | 4 | 0 | 17 | 21 | 1 | GL | 18-Apr-17 |
| Samuel Badree (RCB) | 4 | 1 | 16 | 9 | 4 | MI | 14-Apr-17 |
| Shardul Thakur (RPS) | 4 | 0 | 16 | 19 | 3 | KXIP | 14-May-17 |
| Chris Morris (DD) | 4 | 0 | 16 | 21 | 3 | RCB | 08-Apr-17 |
Bowlers with most Dot Balls in IPL 2018*
| Player | O | M | Dots | Runs | Wkts | OPP. | Match Date |
| Rashid Khan (SRH) | 4 | 0 | 17 | 13 | 1 | MI | 12-Apr-18 |
| Deepak Chahar (CSK) | 4 | 1 | 17 | 15 | 3 | SRH | 22-Apr-18 |
| Rashid Khan (SRH) | 4 | 1 | 16 | 11 | 2 | MI | 24-Apr-18 |
| Ankit Rajpoot (KXIP) | 4 | 0 | 16 | 14 | 5 | SRH | 26-Apr-18 |
