The notion that Twenty20 cricket is all about the batsmen, continues to be proven wrong. And over the course of IPL 2017, we saw how clever bowling, ability to improvise and possessing good variations (knuckleball being a prime example) can serve the bowlers well even while the batsmen are in an attacking mode. Even on pitches that were batsmen-friendly, the likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, Jasprit Bumrah, and a handful of spinners extracted whatever they could from the playing surfaces and helped their team taste success. Low totals were defended successfully, hat-tricks were taken and we even witnessed an uncommon dismissal as hit-wicket.
IPL 2017 bowling records
Here is a complete lowdown of the highest wickets, five-wicket hauls, best bowling averages, economy rates, and strike rates in IPL 2017:
Leading wicket-takers in IPL 10
| Position | Bowlers | Matches | Overs | Runs conceded | Wickets | Economy rate |
| 1 | Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Sunrisers |
14 | 52.2 | 369 | 26 | 7.05 |
| 2 | Jaydev Unadkat
Supergiant |
12 | 45.5 | 322 | 24 | 7.02 |
| 3 | Jasprit Bumrah
Indians |
16 | 60.2 | 444 | 20 | 7.35 |
| 4 | Mitchell McClenaghan
Indians |
14 | 54 | 507 | 19 | 9.38 |
| 5 | Imran Tahir
Supergiant |
12 | 47 | 369 | 18 | 7.85 |
| 6 | Rashid Khan
Sunrisers |
14 | 54 | 358 | 17 | 6.62 |
| 7 | Sandeep Sharma
Kings XI |
13 | 48 | 398 | 17 | 8.29 |
| 8 | Umesh Yadav
Knight Riders |
14 | 48.3 | 410 | 17 | 8.45 |
| 9 | Chris Woakes
Knight Riders |
13 | 44 | 386 | 17 | 8.77 |
| 10 | Pawan Negi
Royal Challengers |
12 | 32.1 | 197 | 16 | 6.12 |
Best bowling figures in an innings
| Bowler | Against | Venue | Bowling figures | Economy rate |
| Andrew Tye
Gujarat Lions |
Rising Pune Supergiant | SCA Stadium, Rajkot | 4-0-17-5 | 4.25 |
| Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Sunrisers Hyderabad |
Kings XI Punjab | Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Hyderabad | 4-0-19-5 | 4.75 |
| Jaydev Unadkat
Rising Pune Supergiant |
Sunrisers Hyderabad | Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Hyderabad | 4-1-30-5 | 7.50 |
| Samuel Badree
Royal Challengers Bangalore |
Mumbai Indians | M Chinnaswamy Stadium | 4-1-9-4 | 2.25 |
| Karn Sharma
Mumbai Indians |
Kolkata Knight Riders | M Chinnaswamy Stadium | 4-0-16-4 | 4.00 |
| Sandeep Sharma
Kings XI Punjab |
Delhi Daredevils | PCA IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali | 4-0-20-4 | 5.00 |
| Chris Morris
Delhi Daredevils |
Sunrisers Hyderabad | Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Hyderabad | 4-0-26-4 | 6.50 |
| Siddarth Kaul
Sunrisers Hyderabad |
Rising Pune Supergiant | Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Hyderabad | 4-0-29-4 | 7.25 |
| Mohammed Siraj
Sunrisers Hyderabad |
Gujarat Lions | Green Park, Kanpur | 4-0-32-4 | 8.00 |
| Umesh Yadav
Kolkata Knight Riders |
Kings XI Punjab | Eden Gardens | 4-0-33-4 | 8.25 |
Best bowling strike rates in the season
| Bowler | Matches | Overs | Wickets | Strike rates |
| Andrew Tye
Lions |
6 | 21.0 | 12 | 10.50 |
| Nathan Coulter-Nile
Knight Riders |
8 | 28.2 | 15 | 11.33 |
| Jaydev Unadkat
Supergiant |
12 | 45.5 | 24 | 11.45 |
| Pawan Negi
Royal Challengers |
12 | 32.1 | 16 | 12.06 |
| Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Sunrisers |
14 | 52.2 | 26 | 12.07 |
| Siddarth Kaul
Sunrisers |
10 | 35.4 | 16 | 13.37 |
| Mohammed Siraj
Sunrisers |
6 | 23.0 | 10 | 13.80 |
| Karn Sharma
Indians |
9 | 30.4 | 13 | 14.15 |
| Chris Morris
Daredevils |
9 | 31.0 | 12 | 15.50 |
| Chris Woakes
Knight Riders |
13 | 44.0 | 17 | 15.52 |
Most dot balls bowled in the season
| Bowler | Matches | Overs | Dot balls | Dot ball percentage |
| Sunil Narine
Knight Riders |
16 | 59.0 | 133 | 37.57% |
| Jasprit Bumrah
Indians |
16 | 60.2 | 124 | 34.25% |
| Rashid Khan
Sunrisers |
14 | 54.0 | 121 | 37.34% |
| Jaydev Unadkat
Supergiant |
12 | 45.5 | 119 | 43.27% |
| Mitchell McClenaghan
Indians |
14 | 54.0 | 119 | 36.72% |
| Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Sunrisers |
14 | 52.2 | 117 | 37.26% |
| Umesh Yadav
Knight Riders |
14 | 48.3 | 117 | 40.20% |
| Sandeep Sharma
Kings XI |
13 | 48.0 | 115 | 39.93% |
| Ben Stokes
Supergiant |
12 | 44.0 | 108 | 40.90% |
| Harbhajan Singh
Indians |
11 | 41.0 | 96 | 39.02% |