Three seasons of Major League Cricket have produced plenty of big hits and stacked scoreboards.
But now and then, a bowler has stepped up and completely dismantled a batting lineup — and those moments deserve to be remembered.
This list ranks the ten best bowling figures in a single innings in MLC history, updated through the 2025 season.
Best Bowling Figures in an Innings in MLC
Whether you’re looking for Saurabh Netravalkar’s jaw-dropping record or want to understand which teams and venues have produced the most dominant bowling performances, it’s all here.
What Are Bowling Figures in T20 Cricket?
Bowling figures in T20 cricket capture three numbers: overs bowled, runs conceded, and wickets taken in a single innings.
In a format defined by high-scoring aggression, a bowler who takes multiple wickets while keeping the runs low is doing something genuinely difficult — and genuinely match-changing.
Since MLC launched in 2023, only three bowlers have taken five wickets in an innings.
Six four-wicket hauls have also been recorded across all three seasons.
The numbers are still relatively small, which makes each performance on this list all the more significant.
Top 10 Best Bowling Figures in an Innings in MLC — All Time
| Rank | Player | Ovrs | Mdns | Runs | Wkts | Econ | Team | Opposition | Ground | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SN Netravalkar | 3.5 | 0 | 9 | 6 | 2.34 | Washington | v SF | Morrisville | 22 Jul 2023 |
| 2 | MJ Owen | 3.0 | 0 | 17 | 5 | 5.66 | Washington | v SF | Dallas | 28 Jun 2025 |
| 3 | WD Parnell | 4.0 | 0 | 20 | 5 | 5.00 | Seattle | v Texas | Morrisville | 21 Jul 2023 |
| 4 | AF Milne | 3.4 | 1 | 23 | 5 | 6.27 | Texas | v Seattle | Lauderhill | 5 Jul 2025 |
| 5 | Mohammad Mohsin | 3.0 | 0 | 8 | 4 | 2.66 | Texas | v Los Angeles | Dallas | 13 Jul 2023 |
| 6 | R Ravindra | 2.4 | 1 | 11 | 4 | 4.12 | Washington | v SF | Dallas | 25 Jul 2024 |
| 7 | Mohammad Mohsin | 3.5 | 0 | 13 | 4 | 3.39 | Texas | v SF | Morrisville | 10 Jul 2024 |
| 8 | R Ravindra | 3.5 | 0 | 16 | 4 | 4.17 | Washington | v Texas | Dallas | 19 Jul 2024 |
| 9 | TA Boult | 4.0 | 0 | 17 | 4 | 4.25 | MI New York | v Los Angeles | Lauderhill | 3 Jul 2025 |
| 10 | IG Holland | 4.0 | 0 | 19 | 4 | 4.75 | Washington | v Seattle | Oakland | 14 Jun 2025 |
Washington Freedom dominates the table with five entries, a reflection of their back-to-back finals appearances and their 2024 title win.
Texas Super Kings account for three, and pace bowling features in eight of the ten spells — not surprising given MLC’s true, flat surfaces that tend to reward swing and seam over spin.
Player-by-Player Analysis
1. Saurabh Netravalkar — 6/9 | Washington vs San Francisco | Morrisville | 22 Jul 2023
No bowler in MLC history has come close to what Netravalkar produced on this evening in Morrisville.
His 6/9 is not just the best bowling figures in MLC history — it stands as one of the most dominant T20 spells anywhere in the world in recent memory.
Bowling left-arm fast-medium with control and swing, he dismissed Marcus Stoinis, Shadab Khan, and Matthew Wade before returning to finish the job in the final over, bowling San Francisco out for 103 chasing 134.
The economy of 2.34 across 3.5 overs in a T20 match tells you everything about how little the batters had to work with.
Away from cricket, Netravalkar works as a software engineer at Oracle. He became an international name at the 2024 T20 World Cup when he defended 18 off the final over against Pakistan to send the USA into the Super 8s.
| Overs | Mdns | Runs | Wickets | Economy | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 | 0 | 9 | 6 | 2.34 | Washington won by 30 runs |
2. Mitchell Owen — 5/17 | Washington vs San Francisco | Dallas | 28 Jun 2025
Owen became only the third bowler in MLC history to take a five-wicket haul, and he did it in a role nobody expected him to play.
Primarily an explosive top-order batter, his 5/17 in MLC 2025 showed an all-round threat that the competition hadn’t fully accounted for.
The Unicorns had reached 97/2 when Owen ran through the middle and lower order, collapsing them to 157/9. Pace variations and a sharp in-swing did the damage.
He was simultaneously among the tournament’s leading run-scorers, making the Player of the Match call straightforward.
| Overs | Mdns | Runs | Wickets | Economy | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.0 | 0 | 17 | 5 | 5.66 | Washington won by 12 runs |
3. Wayne Parnell — 5/20 | Seattle vs Texas | Morrisville | 21 Jul 2023
Before Netravalkar rewrote the record books four days later, Parnell had the distinction of bowling the first five-wicket haul in MLC history.
Captaining Seattle Orcas in Season 1, he swung the ball up front and mixed his lengths intelligently to dismantle the Texas batting lineup.
Seattle won by eight wickets, and Parnell’s Player of the Match spell was the key reason they reached the inaugural MLC final.
A South African international with over 300 T20 appearances to his name, he brought serious pedigree into the league from day one.
| Overs | Mdns | Runs | Wickets | Economy | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4.0 | 0 | 20 | 5 | 5.00 | Seattle won by 8 wickets |
4. Adam Milne — 5/23 | Texas vs Seattle | Lauderhill | 5 Jul 2025
Milne has always been one of cricket’s quicker bowlers when fit, and his MLC 2025 campaign was a reminder of how destructive raw pace can be on American wickets.
His 5/23 against Seattle in Lauderhill was the highlight of a remarkable run: 14 wickets in five innings at an average of 8.5 for the season.
Texas won the match by 51 runs and went to the top of the 2025 points table.
That single-season return makes it one of the most devastating individual campaigns in the league’s short history.
| Overs | Mdns | Runs | Wickets | Economy | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.4 | 1 | 23 | 5 | 6.27 | Texas won by 51 runs |
5. Mohammad Mohsin — 4/8 | Texas vs Los Angeles | Dallas | 13 Jul 2023
For a player who arrived as a domestic wild-card pick in TSK’s inaugural season, Mohsin made quite an impression.
His 4/8 against Los Angeles in Dallas, which dismissed Sunil Narine, Adam Zampa, and Lockie Ferguson among others, announced him as a genuine MLC bowler despite lacking the marquee name recognition of his teammates.
Born in Pakistan and now representing the USA, Mohsin moved to America in 2021 and was identified through the Dallas Premier League.
He leads TSK’s all-time wicket tally in the league, and this spell was where that reputation began.
| Overs | Mdns | Runs | Wickets | Economy | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.0 | 0 | 8 | 4 | 2.66 | Texas won by 69 runs |
6. Rachin Ravindra — 4/11 | Washington vs San Francisco | Dallas | 25 Jul 2024
Ravindra’s T20 career-best came in the MLC 2024 Qualifier, a match Washington absolutely needed to win.
His left-arm spin dismissed the dangerous Sanjay Krishnamurthi early and consistently derailed the Unicorns’ chase, ending the innings with figures that would be outstanding in any format.
He finished as Washington’s second-leading wicket-taker in 2024, with 12 wickets at a stunning average of 6.08.
Two of those came in this spell, and the entire knockout contribution was arguably as important to Washington’s title run as anything else that season.
| Overs | Mdns | Runs | Wickets | Economy | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2.4 | 1 | 11 | 4 | 4.12 | Washington won by 7 wickets |
7. Mohammad Mohsin — 4/13 | Texas vs San Francisco | Morrisville | 10 Jul 2024
Mohsin’s second four-wicket haul — in a different season, against a different opponent — made him the first bowler in MLC history to record multiple such performances.
The evolution from his debut season was visible: sharper variations, more consistent lengths, a greater ability to dismiss set batters rather than just tail-enders.
Where his 2023 spell was the breakthrough, this one confirmed that he belonged at this level.
| Overs | Runs | Wickets | Economy |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 | 13 | 4 | 3.39 |
8. Rachin Ravindra — 4/16 | Washington vs Texas | Dallas | 19 Jul 2024
Seven of Ravindra’s 12 tournament wickets in 2024 came in the knockout phase.
His second four-wicket haul of that season, against Texas in Dallas, removed any remaining doubt about whether his first one had been a fluke.
By this point, Washington was treating him as a genuine bowling weapon rather than a handy part-timer.
| Overs | Runs | Wickets | Economy |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 | 16 | 4 | 4.17 |
9. Trent Boult — 4/17 | MI New York vs Los Angeles | Lauderhill | 3 Jul 2025
Boult is one of the most experienced left-arm swing bowlers in world cricket, and his 2025 MLC spell was a textbook example of how to use the new ball in the shortest format.
He dismissed Unmukt Chand with a golden duck on the first delivery of the innings, then removed Andre Russell and Andre Fletcher inside three overs to effectively end the match as a contest.
He returned later to dismiss Sherfane Rutherford as the attempted counterattack began. MI New York won by eight wickets.
Boult had been brought back into the MI franchise network for IPL 2025 and carried that form seamlessly into MLC.
| Overs | Mdns | Runs | Wickets | Economy | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4.0 | 0 | 17 | 4 | 4.25 | MI New York won by 8 wickets |
10. Ian Holland — 4/19 | Washington vs Seattle | Oakland | 14 Jun 2025
Holland restricted Seattle to 145/9 after they had reached 66/1 at the end of the powerplay — the kind of mid-innings collapse that changes a match completely.
He struck twice in the 14th over, then removed Cameron Gannon to complete his four-wicket haul, earning a Player of the Match award in a match Washington won by five wickets.
The USA-based domestic seamer’s legcutter was particularly effective against the Orcas’ middle order, and his inclusion in this list speaks to the depth of quality MLC has been able to recruit across its three seasons.
| Overs | Mdns | Runs | Wickets | Economy | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4.0 | 0 | 19 | 4 | 4.75 | Washington won by 5 wickets |
Team-Wise Breakdown
| Team | Entries in Top 10 | Best Spell |
|---|---|---|
| Washington Freedom | 5 | 6/9 — Netravalkar |
| Texas Super Kings | 3 | 5/23 — Milne |
| Seattle Orcas | 1 | 5/20 — Parnell |
| MI New York | 1 | 4/17 — Boult |
Season-Wise Distribution
| Season | Spells in Top 10 | Top Spell |
|---|---|---|
| MLC 2023 | 4 | 6/9 — Netravalkar |
| MLC 2024 | 3 | 4/11 — Ravindra |
| MLC 2025 | 3 | 5/17 — Owen |
Bowling Style Breakdown
Pace accounts for eight of the top 10 spells, which reflects the nature of MLC venues — flat, true surfaces that reward swing and seam movement more than turn.
Rachin Ravindra (left-arm orthodox) and Mohammad Mohsin (leg-break) are the only spinners on the list, each appearing twice.
Both are MLC 2024 entries, suggesting Dallas wickets that season offered slightly more encouragement to spin than the league’s other venues.
Key Observations
Washington Freedom’s dominance of this list isn’t an accident.
Five of the top 10 spells were bowled by their players, and the team’s roster-building philosophy — assembling bowling depth across all three seasons — is reflected in both Netravalkar’s record and Ravindra’s knockout brilliance.
Five of the ten spells were delivered at an economy below 5.00, which is genuinely impressive in T20 cricket.
Netravalkar’s 2.34 and Mohsin’s 2.66 at the top of that sub-economy list represent some of the most controlled bowling MLC has seen.
Dallas and Morrisville have each hosted three of the top 10 spells, making them the venues most associated with bowling excellence in the league.
FAQs: Best Bowling Figures in an Innings in MLC
- Who holds the best bowling figures in MLC history?
Saurabh Netravalkar with 6/9 vs San Francisco on July 22, 2023.
- How many five-wicket hauls have been taken in MLC?
Four — Netravalkar (6/9), Owen (5/17), Parnell (5/20), and Milne (5/23).
- Which team has the most entries in the MLC top 10 bowling list?
Washington Freedom has five entries.
- Who has taken the most four-wicket hauls in MLC?
Mohammad Mohsin and Rachin Ravindra, two each.
- What is the best economy rate in the top 10 spells?
Netravalkar’s 6/9 at 2.34, followed by Mohsin’s 4/8 at 2.66.
- Which venues have hosted the most top-10 bowling spells?
Dallas and Morrisville, with three each.
Conclusion:
Saurabh Netravalkar’s 6/9 is the gold standard of MLC bowling, and it may remain so for a long time.
But the list beneath it tells an equally interesting story — of domestic discoveries like Mohsin, unexpected all-round brilliance from Owen, and experienced internationals like Boult and Parnell imposing themselves on a new competition.
As MLC grows, these records will be challenged. For now, this is the definitive ranking of the best bowling figures in an innings in MLC history.
Stay Updated
MLC 2025 is still unfolding — new records could be broken before the season is out. Bookmark this page for the most up-to-date list of the best bowling figures in an innings in Major League Cricket.
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