Thirty-nine. That’s how many no balls the most prolific offender has bowled in IPL history.
Put it another way: 39 times a batter walked up to face a free hit, zero risk of dismissal, full licence to clear the ropes.
In a format where games are won by two runs or lost in the final over, that number is genuinely alarming.
The bowler responsible is not some journeyman pacer.
He is widely considered one of the most accurate fast bowlers on the planet.
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Bowlers With the Most No Balls in IPL History
That’s the thing about no balls in the IPL. They don’t only happen to bad bowlers.
What Does a No Ball Actually Cost in T20 Cricket?
The basic rule: if a bowler oversteps the front crease, it’s a no ball. One extra run is added.
The batter cannot be dismissed from that delivery. And on the very next ball, the batting side gets a free hit.
The free hit is where the real damage happens. A batter facing a free hit has nothing to lose.
They can attempt a maximum without worrying about their wicket.
Against a full-length ball in the death overs, that’s one of the most dangerous scenarios in cricket.
Pace bowlers overstep most often. To bowl fast, you drive hard off the front foot.
That force is what makes a delivery quick, and it’s the same force that occasionally carries you a few centimetres past the line.
Top 5 Bowlers With the Most No Balls in IPL History
| Rank | Bowler | No Balls | IPL Matches | Overs Bowled |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jasprit Bumrah | 39 | 155 | — |
| 2 | Umesh Yadav | 24 | 148 | 508.2 |
| 3 | S. Sreesanth | 23 | 44 | 146.4 |
| 4 | Ishant Sharma | 23 | 117 | 403.1 |
| 5 | Amit Mishra | 21 | 162 | 561.5 |
5. Amit Mishra (21 No Balls)
No leg-spinner should appear on a list like this. Mishra does anyway.
The mechanics of spin bowling don’t naturally produce no balls.
You’re not driving through the crease with the force of a fast bowler.
Yet across 162 matches and 561.5 overs for four different franchises between 2008 and 2024, Mishra still accumulated 21.
The volume is the main factor. Bowl enough overs in enough high-pressure matches, and even a spinner will overstep occasionally.
What makes his IPL career more memorable than this stat: three hat-tricks. Nobody else in IPL history has managed more than one.
4. Ishant Sharma (23 No Balls)
Front-foot discipline has been a recurring theme in Ishant Sharma’s career.
India’s lanky right-armer has a long stride and a high release point. Both put stress on his front-foot landing.
At the international level, he has been warned and penalised for overstepping before.
The same pattern has shown up in the IPL across 117 matches and 403.1 overs, producing 23 no balls.
He took 96 wickets at 8.37 economy over his IPL career. He is still active in IPL 2026 with the Gujarat Titans.
3. S. Sreesanth (23 No Balls)
The number is identical to Ishant’s. The story is not.
Sreesanth bowled those 23 no balls in just 44 matches and 880 deliveries.
That’s a far higher rate than anyone else on this list. For comparison, Ishant needed nearly three times as many games to reach the same number.
His no balls also became a legal matter. In 2013, Sreesanth was accused of deliberately bowling no balls during his stint with the Rajasthan Royals as part of a spot-fixing arrangement.
He was banned by the BCCI. The ban was later overturned, but the allegations remain part of his IPL record.
His career spanned Punjab Kings, Kochi Tuskers Kerala, and Rajasthan Royals between 2007 and 2013.
2. Umesh Yadav (24 No Balls)
Umesh Yadav was one of the quicker bowlers in the IPL across his 14-season career.
He played 148 matches for four franchises between 2010 and 2024, taking 144 wickets and bowling 3,050 deliveries.
Of those, 24 were no balls. His best IPL season came in 2014 with KKR, where he took 11 wickets as they won the title.
High pace and front-foot pressure go together. Yadav’s numbers reflect that.
1. Jasprit Bumrah (39 No Balls)
If you expected anyone other than Bumrah to top this list, you’d be in good company.
He is the bowler everyone talks about when the conversation turns to accuracy.
His yorkers land on a coin. His slower balls deceive the best batters in the world. He has been the most reliable death bowler in IPL cricket for a decade.
And yet: 39 no balls. More than any other bowler in IPL history, with a gap of 15 to second place.
The explanation lies in his action. Bumrah’s low-arm, round-the-wicket angle generates unusual movement but puts serious pressure on his front-foot landing.
He also bowls at maximum intensity in the situations where margins are the tightest. Death overs. Chases.
Matches that MI can’t afford to lose. That combination produces no balls, even in the best technicians.
He has 186 IPL wickets, five title medals, and this record. Two out of three things to be proud of.
Least No Balls in IPL History: What the Data Says
There is no single public record identifying the bowler with the fewest no balls in IPL history.
The IPL and ESPNcricinfo do not maintain a searchable table for this stat.
Spinners have the lowest no-ball rates by action type.
Wrist spinners and off-spinners rarely overstep because their delivery stride doesn’t require the same front-foot commitment as pace bowling.
Among pace bowlers, those with a more upright, controlled action tend to stay behind the crease more consistently.
But granular no-ball frequency data by bowler isn’t publicly available for comparison.
FAQs
- Q: Which bowler has bowled the most no balls in IPL history?
Jasprit Bumrah, with 39 no balls in 155 matches. He is the only IPL bowler to have crossed 30.
- Q: Why does Bumrah bowl so many no balls given his reputation for accuracy?
His low-arm action puts unusual stress on his front-foot landing. Bowling at maximum effort in high-pressure death overs increases the risk of overstepping even for precise bowlers.
- Q: What is the punishment for bowling a no ball in T20 cricket?
The batting team receives one extra run. The no ball delivery does not count as a legal ball, so the bowler must bowl again. The next delivery is a free hit, meaning the batter cannot be dismissed except by a run-out.
- Q: Why does Sreesanth have such a high no-ball rate compared to others?
He bowled 23 no balls in just 44 matches, far more per game than anyone else on this list. His 2013 spot-fixing accusations centred partly on deliberate no balls, though his ban was later overturned.
- Q: Which spinners have the most no balls in IPL history?
Amit Mishra is the only spinner in the top five, with 21. Spinners, as a group, bowl far fewer no balls than pace bowlers due to their action type.
- Q: Are no balls tracked per over in IPL records?
Not in any publicly available format. The highest no balls in a single over is not aggregated as a searchable stat on ESPNcricinfo or the official IPL website.
Final Word
No balls are the kind of stat that doesn’t appear on a player’s highlights reel, but they show up in match reports when they matter most.
The five bowlers on this list are not defined by their no balls. Bumrah has the most, and he also has the most wickets of the group.
Mishra has the most hat-tricks in IPL history. Umesh was part of a title-winning KKR side.
But the numbers are real, and in a format where one free hit can change an over, they are worth knowing.
