A stats review of the four previous IPL seasons
Madhusudhan Ramakrishnan03-Apr-2012With the Twenty20 World Cup to be played later this year in Sri Lanka, this edition of the IPL promises to have a far greater context than the 2011 season of the IPL which started within a week of India’s successful World Cup campaign. Chennai Super Kings, who have been the most consistent team across the four seasons, remain favourites for the title. They made the final of the inaugural season in 2007-08, losing by a narrow margin to Shane Warne’s Rajasthan Royals. In the next three seasons, Super Kings made one semi-final (2009 in South Africa) and won the last two tournaments. Their top-class record in the IPL can be gauged from their displays in each season. There has not been a single season in which they’ve lost more matches than they’ve won. Their overall win-loss ratio across four seasons (1.54) is comfortably ahead of second-placed Mumbai Indians, who have a corresponding value of 1.26.Super Kings, who defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore in a one-sided final last year, had an outstanding run in the 2011 tournament and finished with a win-loss ratio greater than two (2.20) in the season. For most of the other teams, winning consistently hasn’t been as easy. Deccan Chargers, who won the title in 2009, have been less consistent, winning only 25 matches and losing 35. Delhi Daredevils, Kings XI Punjab and Kolkata Knight Riders have all been mediocre throughout and never dominated any season. Royals stunned everybody by winning the title in 2008 while boasting a win-loss ratio of 4.33 (13 wins to three losses). However, since then, their form has deteriorated sharply – they won 17 and lost 22 in the previous three tournaments.
Team2008200920102011Overall (played, wins/losses, w/l ratio)Super Kings9/7, 1.288/6, 1.339/6, 1.5011/5, 2.2062, 37/24, 1.54Mumbai Indians7/7, 1.005/8, 0.6211/5, 2.2010/6, 1.6659, 33/26, 1.26Royals13/3, 4.335/7, 0.716/8, 0.756/7, 0.8556, 30/25, 1.20Royal Challengers4/10, 0.409/7, 1.288/8, 1.0010/6, 1.6662, 31/31, 1.00Daredevils7/7, 1.0010/5, 2.007/7, 1.004/9, 0.4457, 28/28, 1.00Kings XI10/5, 2.007/7, 1.003/10, 0.307/7, 1.0057, 27/29, 0.93Knight Riders6/7, 0.853/9, 0.337/7, 1.008/7, 1.1455, 24/30, 0.80Chargers2/12, 0.169/7, 1.288/8, 1.006/8, 0.7560, 25/35, 0.71Warriors—4/9, 0.4414, 4/9, 0.44Super Kings’ domination is reflected in the batting and bowling stats. Their run rate has always been ahead of their economy rate in each of the seasons and the difference between the two (run-rate difference) was as high as 0.51 in 2012. Chargers finished with a low economy rate (7.52) in 2009, when they won the title and maintained a positive run-rate difference, but struggled to do the same consistently since then. Mumbai Indians, who also have an excellent record overall in the IPL, have a positive run-rate difference in all four seasons, with their best run coming in the 2010 season (difference of 0.80), when they lost in the finals to Super Kings. However, from the table, it is easy to observe that all teams had low run rates and economy rates in 2009, when the tournament was played in South Africa.
Team2008200920102011OverallSuper Kings8.44/8.428.10/7.548.33/7.948.13/7.628.25/7.89Chargers8.29/8.707.90/7.527.62/8.037.66/7.567.86/7.93Daredevils8.48/8.347.73/7.547.92/7.857.84/8.347.98/8.00Kings XI8.81/8.547.19/7.588.26/8.738.10/8.438.10/8.34Knight Riders7.79/8.057.20/7.877.87/8.197.51/7.267.60/7.82Mumbai Indians8.34/8.057.40/7.238.63/7.837.54/7.487.96/7.65Warriors—7.24/7.247.24/7.24Royals8.74/7.896.82/7.028.13/8.597.15/7.657.77/7.79Royal Challengers7.43/8.427.35/7.518.16/7.958.40/8.077.83/7.97Barring 2009, all other tournaments have been high scoring ones. The inaugural tournament in 2008 comprised 58 matches and the run rate was 8.30 with an average run-per-match figure of 309.25. However, in South Africa, both these values dropped to 7.48 and 286.31. A significant dip is also observed in the boundary-run percentage, which fell from 58.76 in 2008 to 50.85 in 2009. The average wickets-per-match figure in 2009 (12.2) is also higher than all other tournaments, which is indicative of the bowler-friendly conditions in South Africa. In 2010, when the IPL moved back to India, the average run-per-match figure shot back up to 314.40 but the boundary-run percentage in 2010 (54.84) was not as high as in the previous tournament in India. The 2011 tournament had a lower run-rate (7.72) than both the 2008 and 2010 tournaments and also a low value of average runs-per-match (289.78), which is better only when compared to the 2009 tournament. The 2008 and 2010 editions also had the highest number of fifties per match (1.53). The tournament held in South Africa (2009) finished bottom on this scale as well – 1.22.
SeasonCountryMatchesRPO/RPWRuns/matchBoundary %Boundary runs/match50-plus scores/matchWickets/match2008India588.30/26.03309.2558.76181.721.5311.872009South Africa577.48/23.41286.3150.85145.611.2212.222010India608.12/26.20314.4054.84172.431.5312.002011India737.72/26.01289.7854.29157.341.3011.13OverallIndia/South Africa2487.90/25.44299.4954.751641.3911.77A comparison of the run rates and boundary percentages across the different phases of an innings has interesting results. In the first six-over period, the run rate in the 2010 tournament (7.89) is the highest, followed by 2008, when it was 7.70. The boundary percentage in 2008 (66.70) is the highest among all tournaments while the lowest figure is surprisingly in the 2011 tournament (62.80). Although the 2011 tournament was held in India, the run rate in the first-six over period was the lowest (7.20). The boundary-run percentage in the middle-over period (overs 7-14) in 2008 is much higher than the corresponding numbers in the other tournaments. The averages are generally higher in the middle overs owing to a slightly more conservative approach by batsmen during this period. The run rate in the final overs (overs 15-20) is the highest in 2008 (9.75) and has been over nine in all seasons except 2009, when the figure was marginally lower (8.91).
Phase of innings2008200920102011OverallOvers 1-67.70/30.44, 66.707.22/26.37, 63.897.89/32.28, 65.507.20/29.82, 62.807.49/29.68, 64.37Overs 7-147.87/31.69, 51.756.72/26.39, 40.417.54/28.41, 45.977.30/32.12, 47.577.36/29.95, 46.70Overs 15-209.75/18.94, 60.328.91/18.48, 50.679.24/20.56, 55.359.01/19.09, 54.889.21/19.26, 55.31The spinners did not have much of an impact in the first season of the IPL, taking 134 wickets while the fast bowlers picked up 445. The spinners also had a slightly higher average and economy rate in 2008 compared to the quicks. However, in the second season (2009), the percentage contribution of wickets for spinners went up. Not only were the averages and economy rates lower for spinners, but the figures for boundary percentage and dot-ball percentage were also better than those for the pace bowlers. In the 2010 and 2011 season, the economy rates for spinners (7.34 and 7.12) were considerably better than those of pace bowlers. Overall, across the four seasons, pace bowlers have picked up more than twice the number of wickets that spinners have. However, spinners have better values of economy rate, average and boundary-run percentage.
SeasonPace (wickets/avg, econ rate)Pace (dot-ball%/ boundary%)Spin (wickets/avg, econ rate)Spin (dot-ball%/ boundary%)2008445/29.23, 8.0941.18/61.60134/30.38, 8.1935.79/56.202009388/26.25, 7.6542.95/57.24226/24.77, 6.7637.33/42.682010405/29.64, 8.3238.34/59.17210/28.80, 7.3436.94/50.412011470/28.12, 7.8041.04/58.32267/27.66, 7.1238.56/50.73Overall1708/28.34, 7.9740.86/59.18837/27.60, 7.2537.39/49.66Except for the occasional low-scoring match, most games in the IPL have been run fests. Teams scored over 200 on 17 occasions while batting first, and have also managed chases of 180-plus targets 13 times. Chennai, the home ground of the defending champions, Super Kings, has had the average runs-per-match figure drop from a high of 333.71 in 2008 to 313.44 in 2011. The run-rate, which was 8.52 in 2008, fell to 7.86 in 2011 and the average run-rate across the three seasons is 8.17. The Eden Gardens in Kolkata has generally been a difficult venue to score on and this is reflected in the low values of run-rate and average runs-per-match across the three seasons. Bangalore and Mohali have been high-scoring venues with the latter in particular having a high value of runs-per-match (330.75) and run-rate (8.51) across the three tournaments.
Venue200820102011OverallChennai7/333.71, 28.83/8.527/318.00, 27.14/8.219/313.44, 27.12/7.8623/321.00, 27.65/8.17Kolkata7/263.28, 22.20/7.367/309.57, 30.95/8.007/264.85, 25.75/7.2821/279.23, 26.06/7.55Delhi6/325.16, 30.96/9.117/309.86, 22.36/7.987/269.14, 25.45/7.8720/300.20, 25.65/8.28Bangalore7/291.71, 22.94/7.797/323.43, 30.59/8.516/274.66, 27.46/7.6520/297.70, 26.69/8.01Jaipur7/302.28, 24.32/7.953/294.33, 28.48/7.977/277.71, 28.17/7.3217/290.76, 26.43/7.70Mohali7/350.42, 30.28/8.935/325.40, 26.24, 8.234/303.00, 22.86/8.1216/330.75, 27.00/8.51Mumbai6/277.33, 23.11/8.1009/302.33, 28.05/7.8115/292.33, 25.94/7.91Hyderabad7/342.00, 28.84/8.8607/311.14, 27.56/7.9514/326.57, 28.22/8.40