Who's The Power Player of the League?
“The pitches are starting
to slow down now”
We’ve heard commentators say this ample number of times this IPL season
and I decided to have a look at the powerplay and death overs numbers before
and after the midway mark of the tournament to see if pitches had actually
slowed down and if yes, by how much.
When a pitch 'slows down', it’s tough for the ball to come on the bat
and to time the shot well. Fast bowlers tend to lose their pace and spinners
come to the forefront.
Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve noticed totals going down and pacers’ (like Rabada, Bumrah) economy going up. Batsmen were struggling to time the ball during the middle/death overs and spinners (like Rashid, R Chahar) seemed more in control. Furthermore, dew started playing a major role too and hence teams preferred chasing as opposed to the first half of the competition where teams opted to bat first.
I started off by looking at the average powerplay scores on each ground
pre and post the halfway stage.
Key Takeaways:
- Dubai International Cricket Stadium saw a fall of 8 runs in the death overs on an average, but more runs have been scored in the batting powerplays of the game in the second half of the tournament.
- Sharjah Cricket Stadium’s wicket slowed down quite a bit over time. The average score for the batting powerplay has gone down from 53 to 45 and in the death overs, it’s tumbled from 60 to 45. We’ve all also seen cricket on Sharjah go from chased down 200+ run totals to defended 160-170 run totals.
- Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi hasn’t seen any major change in its behavior with just a slight increase in the first batting powerplay average which is not very conclusive.
After analyzing how the three UAE grounds changed over the course of two
months, I also had a look at how the teams individually performed in these
overs before and after the midway mark of IPL 2020.
Key Takeaways:
- Sunrisers Hyderabad’s (SRH) opening stand average has gone up by 13 runs greatly to the credit of the return of Wriddhiman Saha and Warner’s form. Their batting’s USP was their opening partnership which they struggled with initially.
- The return of Rajasthan Royal’s (RR) MVP Ben Stokes (as an opener this time) along with Uthappa’s promotion up the order also helped them increase their first batting powerplay average by 6 runs.
- Delhi Capitals (DC) and the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have seemed to struggle batting in the death overs in the following part of the league which could mainly be due to the failure of their lower-order batsmen. Stoinis-Hetmyer seemed to run out of fuel and Kohli-ABD failed to remain at the crease for a longer time. Both teams losing 4 out of their next 7 games made it no easier for them.
- Kings XI Punjab’s (KXIP) always been good in the first 6 overs and there’s only been a slight change in their first powerplay scores perhaps owing to the entry of T20 legend, Chris Gayle. Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have also performed in a fairly similar manner both phases of the tournament.
- Mumbai Indians (MI) remains to be the team to score the most number of runs in batting powerplays throughout the league stage.
- Mumbai Indians leading the table (yet again) by scoring 106 runs on an average in those 11 overs. They've scored 89 runs twice in the last 5 overs which is the highest total in this IPL season.
- 92 runs is the lowest score by Kolkata Knight Riders. Their lowest score of 17 runs in the powerplay is the lowest by any team this year.
- Sunrisers Hyderabad is the fastest team in the powerplay (51 runs) but is the slowest team in the death overs (44 runs).
After 56 matches full of numerous nail-biting finishes and some of the
craziest qualification scenarios, the teams who held their calm in moments of
pressure and squeezed into the top 4 are- Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals, Royal Challengers
Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Data source: https://www.cricbuzz.com/cricket-series/3130/indian-premier-league-2020/matches
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