Who has taken the most wickets in a single IPL season?

Who has taken the most wickets in a single IPL season? asked Dev Prakash from India
Top of the list is the wily Trinidadian Dwayne Bravo, who prised out 32 wickets for Chennai Super Kings in the 2013 IPL. His heroics couldn't quite inspire CSK to the title that year; they lost the final to Mumbai Indians, despite Bravo's 4 for 42.

Joint second, with 28 wickets, are Lasith Malinga, for Mumbai Indians in 2011, and James Faulkner, for Rajasthan Royals in 2013. The leading home bowler is Bhuvneshwar Kumar, with 26 for Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2017; Bravo also took 26 for CSK in 2015. Morne Morkel grabbed 25 wickets for Delhi Daredevils 2012. Overall, Malinga leads the way with 166 wickets in the IPL. Amit Mishra lies second with 152, just ahead of Piyush Chawla (150) and Bravo (145).

Kagiso Rabada may yet rewrite the seasonal list. At the time of writing, he'd played 12 matches in 2019, and taken 25 wickets - eight more than anyone else this year - for Delhi Capitals.

I noticed that the Afghan batsman Najeeb Tarakai recently hit 19 sixes in a first-class innings. I assume this is now the record? By the way, regarding the recent question about Don Bradman's Test ducks, my father was around the same age as the Don. He always said the innings where Bradman got bowled for a duck by Herman Griffith, and Australia lost, was the most memorable innings he saw Bradman play! wrote David Markham from Australia
This record has moved on apace in recent years. For ages the best was 15 sixes in an innings, by the New Zealander John Reid in his 296 for Wellington against Northern Districts in Wellington in 1962-63. That stood until 1995, when Andrew Symonds belted 16 for Gloucestershire against Glamorgan in Abergavenny. And then another New Zealander, Colin Munro, obliterated the record with 23 sixes in his 281 for Auckland against Central Districts in Napier in 2014-15.

Afghanistan's Shafiqullah Shinwari almost broke Munro's mark in 2018, with 22 sixes in his unbeaten 200 for Kabul against Boost in Asadabad. And there were three notable instances in the 2018-19 season: apart from Najeeb Tarakai's onslaught for Speen Ghar against Mis Ainak in Asadabad; Bhanuka Rajapaksa also hit 19, in his 268 for Burgher against Ports Authority in Colombo, while Oshada Fernando's 234 for Chilaw Marians against Colts, also in Colombo, included 17 sixes.

And an interesting aside there about Don Bradman! I suppose his catalogue of scores was so astonishing that a duck really was news - I remember seeing a picture of a newspaper hoarding that just said "Bradman 0". And another that proclaimed "He's out!"

Who had eight innings in a Test series and was caught behind each time? asked George Murray from England
The man with this slightly unfortunate record was the England opener Peter Richardson, who had eight innings in the 1956 Ashes - his first series - and was caught behind each time. At Trent Bridge and Lord's he was caught behind in all four innings by Gil Langley; then when Langley was injured, Richardson was caught by Len Maddocks in England's only innings at Headingley (a rain-affected draw) and Old Trafford (when Jim Laker took 19 wickets; Richardson also scored his maiden century, and England won by an innings). Langley was back for the final Test at The Oval, and Richardson gave him a catch in each innings to make it eight out of eight. Ron Archer and Keith Miller dismissed him three times each, and Richie Benaud and Ray Lindwall once. The former England captain Arthur Gilligan, in his book on the series, seems to have summed Richardson up well: "An attractive batsman, rather prone to nibble."

I noticed that seven Kiwi bowlers took a wicket in the second innings at Centurion in April 2006. Was this a record? asked Keenan Bradley from South Africa
That match in Centurion in 2005-06, in which seven New Zealand bowlers took at least one wicket in South Africa's second innings of 299, was actually the fourth (and most recent) instance of this. The first was in Melbourne in 1897-98, when seven Englishmen took wickets as Australia amassed 520; Johnny Briggs claimed three, six other bowlers managed one apiece, and there was also a run-out. It happened again in Durban in 1922-23, with seven South Africans combining to dismiss England for 281, then not till 1966-67, in Johannesburg, when seven Australian took wickets, but couldn't prevent South Africa reaching 620 in their second innings.

There are also four instances of 13 different bowlers taking wickets in the same Test; only the 1966-67 Jo'burg game features on both tables.

With reference to last week's question about batsmen being dismissed six times running by the same bowler - didn't Shane Warne get Ashwell Prince eight times in a row? asked Ashok Kumar, and others
You're right that Shane Warne dismissed Ashwell Prince in eight successive innings in Tests between Australia and South Africa, but those were in two different series - in 2002-03 and 2005-06 - and Prince played some other Tests in between.

Six in a row by the same bowler remains the overall record. If you consider only matches between the same teams, ignoring other Tests played in the meantime, then eight is near the top. However, the eminent Melbourne statistician Charles Davis pointed out: "The England offspinner Jim Laker dismissed Clyde Walcott of West Indies in nine consecutive innings in which he bowled to him, between 1953-54 and 1957. Walcott played other innings against England during this period in which he was dismissed by others or not out, but Laker did not bowl to him in those innings. Similarly, Rangana Herath got Azhar Ali eight times in a row, when he actually bowled to him."