When the Kings XI Punjab team management walked into the VIVO Indian Premier League player auctions a couple of months ago, they had a very clear plan; to get Andrew Tye. Having done well for Gujarat Lions in his debut season last year, a lot was expected from him coming into this campaign, and boy has he delivered!

Photo credit: BCCI/IPLT20.com

Hailing from Down Under, Tye went wicketless on his KXIP debut but has picked up steam ever since, and now has 9 wickets to his name – the highest in this list yet, and the rightful owner of the Purple Cap.

Often coming on to bowl in the Powerplay and death overs, Tye does what he does best on most times – stifle the scoring, and break partnerships at crucial junctures with his wicket-taking abilities. Rather than relying on express pace, he rather trusts on the lack of thereof with those ingeniously disguised knuckle balls that foxes the best in the business. Add to this a cricket IQ par excellence, and a good height to generate a complicated angle, Tye is not the easiest bowlers to face when quick runs is the name of the game.

Tye edged ahead of the competition in last night’s match against Delhi Daredevils at Feroz Shah Kotla when he crucially claimed Gautam Gambhir inside the powerplay, and then broke the threatening 47-run stand between Shreyas Iyer and Rahul Tewatia, sending the latter packing. He also kept it tight in the 18th over, which was arguably the most important over in the context of the game.

"The pitch was slow, we summed it up early," Tye said. "They bowled a lot of off-cutters and it was hard to score so we followed the same plan. We bowled according to the field as batsmen these days manipulate the field pretty well."

Having played 6 matches so far, Tye’s returns of 9 wickets at an impressive economy rate of just 7.91, the KXIP pacer will now look to build on these performances and outperform the likes of Mumbai Indians’ Mayank Markande and Kolkata Knight Riders’ Sunil Narine who are just behind his tail in the Purple Cap list. But Purple Cap or not, one thing is certain, that Andrew Tye has gone on to become the spearhead of the bowling attack for KXIP.