The 2020 Indian Premier League has reached the halfway stage with plenty of action and interesting trends so far. In this edition’s ‘The IPL Week in Six Numbers’ we look at some of the key moments, trends, performances that have emerged and dive into the numbers that defined these moments. CricViz’s Srinivas Vijaykumar lists out the key numbers in the first half of the competition
68.9% – A big bat first trend is emerging in this IPL, more than any other IPL edition and more often than any other T20 competition in the history of the format. Teams batting first have won 68.9% of the matches (20 out of 29 – not including super over results), the highest in a tournament with 25+ matches in all T20s. With pitches getting slower, chasing isn’t going to get easier. We wouldn’t be surprised if this number rises further as the tournament progresses.
69 – A big reason that teams are doing well in the second innings in this IPL has been the effectiveness of the spinners. The slower bowlers have been more economical while defending, but more importantly have picked up wickets at regular intervals. With 69 spin wickets in the second innings at a strike rate of 18.8 – almost half the tally compared to the first innings – spin has been king in chases so far this IPL.
61 – David Warner in IPL 2020 has attacked more than he has in many seasons but he’s really struggled for power this year. Warner’s power rating of 61 this season is the lowest across all IPL editions. Power Rating explores beyond intent and contact and looks at a player’s ability to find and clear the rope when they make good contact. Power looks specifically at shots when the batsman has made good contact and is a ratio of their well-hit boundaries to the boundary-rate of those shots. Warner’s actually going hard at the bowlers – attacking 68.3% deliveries this season. He’s played attacking shots more often only in one other edition (71% in 2015). Despite a high attacking shot percentage, a low power rating shows how ineffective he’s been trying to hit boundaries.
-0.9 – Andre Russell’s form with the bat will be a concern for the Kolkata Knight Riders. In each of the last four IPLs, he’s recorded a positive Batting Impact. This year however with a Batting Impact of -0.9, he’s actually performing worse than we’d expect for an average player in the situations he’s batted.
18.7 – Left arm seamers on average have taken a wicket once in 18.7 deliveries this IPL – more frequently than any other bowler-type. They’ve been the most attacking option in this season, with a lower strike rate in an IPL season only in 2013 (18.3) & 2009 (16.6). Six out of eight teams have used left arm seamers this season – DC & KKR the only teams yet to use this option. While KKR do not have a left arm seamer in their squad, DC are yet to use Daniel Sams.
27 – Chennai Super Kings have bowled 27 yorkers in the last three overs (18-20) in this IPL, more than any other team. 48% of these yorkers by CSK’s seamers have been dot balls, again the most of all teams. 22 out of these 27 yorkers have come in CSK’s last five matches, since Dwayne Bravo has featured in the lineup after being in the sidelines for the first three games with an injury.
Srinivas Vijaykumar is an analyst at CricViz. Follow him on Twitter @srini_vk
