Across 18 IPL seasons from 2008 to 2025, bowlers were credited with 12,645 dismissals, spread over 29,533 distinct bowler-versus-batter pairings. Only nine of those pairings produced seven or more dismissals. At the top is one that most fans would never guess: Sunil Narine has dismissed Rohit Sharma eight times, the most by any bowler against any batter in IPL history.
That is the story of this record. A "bunny" in cricket is a batter one bowler dismisses again and again, and the IPL's short-format churn should make bunnies rare. Players change franchises, bowlers get fewer than four overs, and many batters face a given bowler for only a handful of balls a season. Still, the Cricsheet ball-by-ball record from 2008 to 2025 shows a small group of bowlers who kept a hold on specific batters for a decade or more. The pattern survived auctions, captaincy changes, and the Impact Player era. This piece rebuilds those rivalries from 278,205 deliveries.
The Rivalries That Defined the Record Book
Narine vs Rohit Sharma: Eight Dismissals in Eight Different Seasons
Sunil Narine first dismissed Rohit Sharma in 2012, his debut IPL season for Kolkata Knight Riders. He got him again in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2021 and 2024. What stands out is that he never dismissed Rohit twice in one season. The record was built one wicket at a time across 13 years, and the eight dismissals came in eight different seasons.
Across 134 legal deliveries, Rohit scored 143 runs off Narine at a strike rate of 106.7. Over the same 2008-2025 span, Rohit's overall IPL strike rate was 132.1. Against Narine he scored about 25 runs per 100 balls fewer than his normal rate, and 54 of those 134 balls were dots. In 2014 Rohit made 7 runs from 10 Narine deliveries. In 2017 it was 11 from 16. In 2024, with Rohit well into his second decade at Mumbai Indians, he scored 2 runs from 6 balls and was out again.
By the end of 2025, Narine had 192 bowler-credited IPL wickets. That tied him with Piyush Chawla for third on the all-time list, behind Yuzvendra Chahal (221) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (198). No other bowler, though, has dismissed a single batter as many times as Narine has dismissed Rohit.
Bumrah vs Pant: Seven Wickets in 46 Balls
If the Narine-Rohit record is about longevity, Jasprit Bumrah against Rishabh Pant is about density. Bumrah dismissed Pant seven times between 2016 and 2024 in just 46 legal deliveries, which works out to a wicket every 6.6 balls. Pant made 55 runs in that time, an average of 7.9.
This pairing is unusual because Pant hits hard against almost everyone. His IPL strike rate through 2025 was 147.5. Against Bumrah it dropped to 119.6, and 21 of the 46 balls were dots. The 2017 season was the most one-sided: Pant faced five Bumrah deliveries, scored nothing, and was dismissed twice. Four of the seven dismissals were caught, two were bowled and one was lbw, which suggests Bumrah beat Pant in more than one way.
Sandeep Sharma vs Kohli: A Hold That Ended
Virat Kohli, the IPL's all-time leading run-scorer, has a clear nemesis in the record book. Sandeep Sharma dismissed him seven times, five of them in the first five seasons they met. He got Kohli twice in 2014 from only three balls, then once each in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019 and 2020. Kohli averaged 18.9 against him, less than half his IPL career average of 39.6 through 2025.
This rivalry also shows that a bunny record can end. From 2022 to 2025, Kohli faced Sandeep for 33 balls, scored 59 runs and was not dismissed. The 2025 season alone brought 28 runs from 14 balls. Kohli clearly adjusted, and a matchup that once decided RCB innings now appears to favour the batter.
Zaheer Khan vs MS Dhoni: Seven Catches
The oldest rivalry at the top of the list is also the strangest. Zaheer Khan dismissed MS Dhoni seven times between 2008 and 2015, and every dismissal was a catch. Dhoni did not struggle to score against him. He made 74 runs off 42 balls, a strike rate of 176.2. What went wrong was the ending: Dhoni kept attacking Zaheer and kept finding a fielder. The two dismissals in 2011, from 13 balls, came in the season Dhoni led Chennai Super Kings to their second consecutive title.
Data Deep-Dive: The Complete Bunny Ledger
The Seven-Dismissal Club (2008-2025)
Only nine bowler-batter pairings in IPL history reached seven or more dismissals. All figures below count only dismissals credited to the bowler: caught, bowled, lbw, stumped, caught and bowled, and hit wicket. Run-outs are excluded, and wides are not counted as balls faced.
| Bowler | Batter | Dismissals | Balls | Runs | Average | Strike Rate | Span |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunil Narine | Rohit Sharma | 8 | 134 | 143 | 17.9 | 106.7 | 2012-2024 |
| Jasprit Bumrah | Rishabh Pant | 7 | 46 | 55 | 7.9 | 119.6 | 2016-2024 |
| Mohit Sharma | Ambati Rayudu | 7 | 49 | 71 | 10.1 | 144.9 | 2013-2023 |
| Yuzvendra Chahal | Mayank Agarwal | 7 | 46 | 72 | 10.3 | 156.5 | 2019-2025 |
| Zaheer Khan | MS Dhoni | 7 | 42 | 74 | 10.6 | 176.2 | 2008-2015 |
| Amit Mishra | Rohit Sharma | 7 | 91 | 87 | 12.4 | 95.6 | 2009-2021 |
| Bhuvneshwar Kumar | Ajinkya Rahane | 7 | 117 | 104 | 14.9 | 88.9 | 2012-2024 |
| R Ashwin | Robin Uthappa | 7 | 94 | 123 | 17.6 | 130.9 | 2011-2021 |
| Sandeep Sharma | Virat Kohli | 7 | 88 | 132 | 18.9 | 150.0 | 2014-2020 |
Two batters appear twice in the wider data. Rohit Sharma is on this list twice, against Narine and Amit Mishra. He was also dismissed six times by R Vinay Kumar. The Bhuvneshwar-Rahane pairing is the most suffocating on the table: 67 of 117 balls were dots (57%), and Rahane did not hit a single six in those 117 deliveries. His IPL strike rate overall was 125.0. Against Bhuvneshwar it was 88.9.
The Mohit Sharma-Rayudu rivalry was decided almost entirely in 2014, when Mohit dismissed Rayudu three times in just 11 balls for 7 runs.
The Cheapest Bunnies: Lowest Average, Minimum Four Dismissals
Some bunny records are about how cheaply the wickets came rather than how many there were.
| Bowler | Batter | Dismissals | Balls | Runs | Average |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Praveen Kumar | Harbhajan Singh | 4 | 6 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Jasprit Bumrah | Rashid Khan | 4 | 9 | 5 | 1.3 |
| Jasprit Bumrah | Shimron Hetmyer | 4 | 15 | 9 | 2.3 |
| Rahul Sharma | Kumar Sangakkara | 5 | 20 | 12 | 2.4 |
| RP Singh | Naman Ojha | 4 | 25 | 10 | 2.5 |
| Josh Hazlewood | Shreyas Iyer | 4 | 22 | 11 | 2.8 |
| R Vinay Kumar | Rohit Sharma | 6 | 33 | 22 | 3.7 |
Praveen Kumar against Harbhajan Singh may be the most complete one-way matchup in IPL history. Harbhajan faced six balls, scored nothing, and was caught four times between 2010 and 2016. Vinay Kumar's record against a young Rohit Sharma between 2008 and 2013 is the most striking at the top level: six dismissals in 33 balls, with 23 dot balls.
The Collectors: Bowlers With the Most Bunnies
Counting every batter a bowler has dismissed three or more times shows which bowlers repeatedly got the better of the same opponents.
| Bowler | Batters Dismissed 3+ Times | Most-Dismissed Batter |
|---|---|---|
| Yuzvendra Chahal | 29 | Mayank Agarwal (7) |
| Jasprit Bumrah | 19 | Rishabh Pant (7) |
| R Ashwin | 18 | Robin Uthappa (7) |
| Rashid Khan | 18 | Several at 4 |
| Harbhajan Singh | 17 | Suresh Raina, Chris Gayle (5) |
| Sunil Narine | 16 | Rohit Sharma (8) |
| Bhuvneshwar Kumar | 16 | Ajinkya Rahane (7) |
| Trent Boult | 16 | Prithvi Shaw, Faf du Plessis, Sunil Narine (4) |
Chahal is well clear of everyone else. His 29 repeat victims include Quinton de Kock and Nitish Rana (six each), Sanju Samson (five), and Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav and MS Dhoni (four each). That fits his record as the IPL's leading wicket-taker, and it shows how many of those wickets came from the same batters falling to him repeatedly.
The Hunted: Batters With the Most Nemeses
The reverse view counts how many different bowlers dismissed a batter three or more times. It reflects longevity as much as weakness, since you need many seasons in the league to collect this many nemeses.
| Batter | Bowlers With 3+ Dismissals | Chief Nemesis |
|---|---|---|
| Rohit Sharma | 24 | Sunil Narine (8) |
| Virat Kohli | 22 | Sandeep Sharma (7) |
| Shikhar Dhawan | 20 | Several at 4 |
| Robin Uthappa | 15 | R Ashwin (7) |
| Ambati Rayudu | 14 | Mohit Sharma (7) |
| Dinesh Karthik | 14 | Dwayne Bravo, Chris Morris (4) |
| Sanju Samson | 13 | Chahal, Shivam Mavi (5) |
The Immune: Most Balls Faced Without a Single Dismissal
The opposite of a bunny is a batter who faced a bowler many times and was never out.
| Bowler | Batter | Balls | Runs | Strike Rate | Dismissals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deepak Chahar | KL Rahul | 100 | 159 | 159.0 | 0 |
| Krunal Pandya | KL Rahul | 92 | 98 | 106.5 | 0 |
| R Ashwin | Suryakumar Yadav | 89 | 128 | 143.8 | 0 |
| Mohit Sharma | Dinesh Karthik | 78 | 83 | 106.4 | 0 |
| Rashid Khan | Suryakumar Yadav | 78 | 108 | 138.5 | 0 |
| Mohammed Shami | Shikhar Dhawan | 76 | 113 | 148.7 | 0 |
KL Rahul appears twice in the top two. He faced exactly 100 balls from Deepak Chahar over 12 matches, scored 159 runs with 17 fours and 8 sixes, and was never dismissed. Suryakumar Yadav also appears twice, against two of the IPL's best spinners, Ashwin and Rashid Khan.
Legacy Impact: What the Bunny Record Means Today
These rivalries still matter. Most of the leading names were still playing in IPL 2026. Narine remained at Kolkata Knight Riders, Rohit and Bumrah at Mumbai Indians, Pant was captaining Lucknow Super Giants, Chahal was at Punjab Kings, and Kohli was chasing more titles at Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Every KKR-MI fixture therefore brings the IPL's most successful individual matchup back into play. Because Bumrah and Pant play for different franchises, a Mumbai-Lucknow game carries the same risk for Pant.
The record also shapes team selection. A captain who knows Narine has dismissed Rohit once every 16.75 balls across 13 seasons will bring Narine on as soon as Rohit walks out, in the powerplay or out of rotation if needed. The same applies to Hazlewood when Shreyas Iyer arrives, or Bumrah when Shimron Hetmyer comes in at the death. Matchup-driven bowling changes are now standard in T20 cricket, and this data shows why.
This is also where CricMind's approach to prediction starts. The Oracle prediction engine runs a per-ball MICRO layer whose matchup adjustment weighs the batter on strike against the bowler with the ball. When Narine bowls to Rohit, the live win probability should move differently than it would if Narine were bowling to a batter he has never dismissed. Head-to-head history like this is one of the clearest signals in T20 cricket, and it is one input into how the Oracle reads each live delivery.
The Sandeep-Kohli numbers are a caution against treating any bunny record as permanent. A seven-dismissal hold that looked unbreakable in 2020 produced no wickets at all from 2022 to 2025. Batters study these matchups too, and the best of them adjust.
Three Takeaways
- The record belongs to a spinner, not a fast bowler. Sunil Narine's eight dismissals of Rohit Sharma, spread across eight seasons from 2012 to 2024, are the most by any bowler against any batter in IPL history. Rohit scored at 106.7 per 100 balls against Narine, compared with 132.1 overall.
- Bumrah's hold on Pant is the most efficient in the record book. Seven dismissals in 46 balls, a wicket every 6.6 deliveries, against one of the league's most aggressive batters. No other seven-dismissal pairing comes close.
- Bunny records can end. Sandeep Sharma dismissed Virat Kohli seven times from 2014 to 2020, then went four seasons and 33 balls without dismissing him again. The record book shows who has had the edge in a matchup, not who will win the next ball.
FAQ
Which bowler has dismissed the same batter the most times in IPL history?
Sunil Narine has dismissed Rohit Sharma eight times in the IPL, the most by any bowler against a single batter between 2008 and 2025. The dismissals came in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2021 and 2024, across 134 balls in which Rohit scored 143 runs.
How many times has Jasprit Bumrah dismissed Rishabh Pant in the IPL?
Jasprit Bumrah dismissed Rishabh Pant seven times in the IPL between 2016 and 2024. It took him only 46 legal deliveries, and Pant scored 55 runs in that time, an average of 7.9 and a strike rate of 119.6.
Who has dismissed Virat Kohli the most in IPL history?
Sandeep Sharma has dismissed Virat Kohli seven times in the IPL, most recently in 2020. Kohli averaged 18.9 against him. From 2022 to 2025, however, Kohli scored 59 runs from 33 Sandeep balls without being dismissed.
Which IPL bowler has the most "bunnies"?
Yuzvendra Chahal has dismissed 29 different batters three or more times in the IPL, the most of any bowler through the 2025 season. Jasprit Bumrah is second with 19. R Ashwin and Rashid Khan are next with 18 each.
Which batter has faced the most balls from one bowler without getting out?
KL Rahul faced 100 balls from Deepak Chahar in the IPL between 2008 and 2025 without being dismissed. He scored 159 runs at a strike rate of 159.0. Rahul also faced 92 balls from Krunal Pandya without being dismissed.
How are these IPL bowler-versus-batter records calculated?
These figures come from Cricsheet ball-by-ball data covering all 1,169 IPL matches from 2008 to 2025. Only dismissals credited to the bowler are counted: caught, bowled, lbw, stumped, caught and bowled, and hit wicket. Run-outs are excluded. Balls faced exclude wides, following standard scoring convention.
How many IPL bowler-batter pairs have produced five or more dismissals?
Of the 29,533 distinct bowler-batter pairings in IPL history through 2025, only 46 produced five or more bowler-credited dismissals. Twenty-two reached six, and just nine reached seven or more.