Nearly a quarter of the way into the league stage of the ninth season of the Indian Premier League and there are a few trends that have emerged so far.
Here’s a primer on what it took to win in the first 11 days of the IPL-9!
TREND 1: Win Toss & . . .
In the 14 matches so far – most of which have been games starting in the evening, it has been noticed that captains winning the toss have generally opted to field. In 9 of the 14 matches so far, the captain winning the toss has put the opposition in.
TREND 2: Chase to Win
“Chase to win” appears to be the mantra captains are following this season. Off the 13 matches we’ve seen so far this season, 12 have been won by teams chasing. The only exception was the match in Bengaluru, when Royal Challengers Bangalore ran up 227 runs on the board and not surprisingly romped home to a 45-run victory.
This trend is a little surprising though. Not too long ago, in the ICC World T20, the difference in success between teams batting first and chasing wasn’t as stark as this. In fact, in that competition, teams setting targets had a slightly better success rate compared to teams chasing.
TREND 3: Back Your Wrist Spinner
Through cricket history, it has been observed that wrist spinners are wicket-takers. We saw plenty of leg-spinners shine during the World T20 2016 and they’re causing plenty of damage in the IPL 2016 too.
We’ve seen plenty of leg-spinners and chinaman bowlers impress in these last few days. Be it Yuzvendra Chahal for RCB or Pravin Tambe for Gujarat Lions, leg-spinners have often turned in with plenty of wickets. Remember the wily old fox Brad Hogg taking three wickets against the Delhi Daredevils? Or Amit Mishra’s 4 for 11 against Kings XI Punjab? Leg-spinners are wicket-takers, and generally match-winners.
The graphic above best illustrates the point; while other categories of bowlers have on an average needed more than 4 overs to strike, wrist-spinners on an average have needed less than three overs to pick up a wicket. Just tells you how they are capable of running through sides. It is not surprising therefore that a leg-spinner – Murugan Ashwin – holds the Purple Cap at this stage in the competition.
TREND 4: Openers Need to Fire
It has been noticed that teams whose openers do well generally tend to be successful. There have been seven instances of the opening pair adding 50 or more so far this season; of those 7 instances, six have led to their teams winning.
Not surprisingly therefore, the Kolkata Knight Riders – for who Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa have put together three 50-run partnerships – sit at the top of the standings.
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