Almost two-thirds of the league stage is done and dusted. The IPL this season has witnessed new trends and some old patterns turned upside down. TOI takes a look…
250 is the new 200
There were only two 250-plus totals before this edition, one way back in 2013 when RCB raked up 263/5 against Pune Warriors and the other in 2023 when LSG scored 257/5 versus Punjab Kings.This season, there have been 8 totals of more than 250, with Sunrisers Hyderabad leading the way with three such totals. KKR have a pair of 250-plus scores to their credit. Now, a 200-plus total is nothing but a par score.
IPL ORANGE CAP | IPL PURPLE CAP | IPL POINTS TABLE
12 runs per over in Powerplays
Top-order batsmen like Jake Fraser-McGurk (DC), Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma (SRH), Phil Salt and Sunil Narine (KKR), Jos Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal (RR) among others have just maximised the first six overs to the fullest. Earlier, the standard “explosive start” after the Powerplay overs was teams notching up 55-60 runs. This IPL, the benchmark has shifted to 70-plus after the first six. SRH even scored 125/0 against Delhi, the highest-ever score in the Powerplay in the IPL. In their record successful chase of 262 against KKR, Punjab scored 93 /1 in this period. McGurk went berserk to lift DC to 92/0 against MI.
No need for consolidation
With the ‘Impact Player’ rule helping the batting side’s cause, every team is making sure the hitting continues even after the Powerplay. Earlier, the norm was that batters used to rotate the strike and look for a boundary every alternate over before going big once again in the death overs (16th-20th). Teams were happy to score 7-8 runs per over from the 7th over till the 15th. This season, there’s been a tectonic shift – batters are taking 10-12 runs per over even during the so-called ‘consolidation period’. A batter now thinks six first, then a boundary; and if not the first two, he turns to other options.
Featherbed pitches on offer
Earlier, each venue had a distinct characteristic of its own, lending some meaning to the home-and-away concept. The Wankhede stadium’s pitch offered pace and bounce and the new ball swung. The wicket in Chennai’s MA Chidambaram stadium was a turning track. Delhi’s Kotla wicket was slow and low. Bangalore’s Chinnaswamy pitch has perennially sounded the death knell for all kinds of bowlers. That tradition is still on in Bangalore, but the other pitches that traditionally offered something to the bowlers have also turned into absolute featherbeds. The batters are ruling the roost.
Fast bowlers are the rage
Other than DC, who have kept faith in spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel, most franchises are turning to their pacemen to deliver. Even CSK, which traditionally has won IPLs on the back of spin, have depended on Mustafizur Rahman, Deepak Chahar, Matheesha Pathirana, Shardul Thakur and Tushar Deshpande. Ravindra Jadeja has often been the sole spinner, as Maheesh Theekshana and Moeen Ali have played just three matches each. KKR, a team that relied on spinners in previous IPLs, has also drastically cut down on its overs given to spin. Another startling statistic of this IPL is that among the top-20 wicket-takers, only two are spinners, and they’re Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav. The rest are all pacers.
250 is the new 200
There were only two 250-plus totals before this edition, one way back in 2013 when RCB raked up 263/5 against Pune Warriors and the other in 2023 when LSG scored 257/5 versus Punjab Kings.This season, there have been 8 totals of more than 250, with Sunrisers Hyderabad leading the way with three such totals. KKR have a pair of 250-plus scores to their credit. Now, a 200-plus total is nothing but a par score.
IPL ORANGE CAP | IPL PURPLE CAP | IPL POINTS TABLE
12 runs per over in Powerplays
Top-order batsmen like Jake Fraser-McGurk (DC), Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma (SRH), Phil Salt and Sunil Narine (KKR), Jos Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal (RR) among others have just maximised the first six overs to the fullest. Earlier, the standard “explosive start” after the Powerplay overs was teams notching up 55-60 runs. This IPL, the benchmark has shifted to 70-plus after the first six. SRH even scored 125/0 against Delhi, the highest-ever score in the Powerplay in the IPL. In their record successful chase of 262 against KKR, Punjab scored 93 /1 in this period. McGurk went berserk to lift DC to 92/0 against MI.
No need for consolidation
With the ‘Impact Player’ rule helping the batting side’s cause, every team is making sure the hitting continues even after the Powerplay. Earlier, the norm was that batters used to rotate the strike and look for a boundary every alternate over before going big once again in the death overs (16th-20th). Teams were happy to score 7-8 runs per over from the 7th over till the 15th. This season, there’s been a tectonic shift – batters are taking 10-12 runs per over even during the so-called ‘consolidation period’. A batter now thinks six first, then a boundary; and if not the first two, he turns to other options.
Featherbed pitches on offer
Earlier, each venue had a distinct characteristic of its own, lending some meaning to the home-and-away concept. The Wankhede stadium’s pitch offered pace and bounce and the new ball swung. The wicket in Chennai’s MA Chidambaram stadium was a turning track. Delhi’s Kotla wicket was slow and low. Bangalore’s Chinnaswamy pitch has perennially sounded the death knell for all kinds of bowlers. That tradition is still on in Bangalore, but the other pitches that traditionally offered something to the bowlers have also turned into absolute featherbeds. The batters are ruling the roost.
Fast bowlers are the rage
Other than DC, who have kept faith in spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel, most franchises are turning to their pacemen to deliver. Even CSK, which traditionally has won IPLs on the back of spin, have depended on Mustafizur Rahman, Deepak Chahar, Matheesha Pathirana, Shardul Thakur and Tushar Deshpande. Ravindra Jadeja has often been the sole spinner, as Maheesh Theekshana and Moeen Ali have played just three matches each. KKR, a team that relied on spinners in previous IPLs, has also drastically cut down on its overs given to spin. Another startling statistic of this IPL is that among the top-20 wicket-takers, only two are spinners, and they’re Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav. The rest are all pacers.
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