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As the sixth edition of IPL was nearing its half-way mark, the emerging statistical trend indicates the domination of bowlers over what is essentially a batsman’s show. The paying public and millions of TV viewers expect sixes and fours to flow from the willow. High-scoring games and close finishes are the essence of this format.
Yet, at the end of Saturday’s games, it will be interesting to note that none of the batsmen scored a century, the highest being 93 not out by Royal Challengers’ captain Virat Kohli against Sunrisers.
It is also significant to mention that during this period, two hattricks have been performed by Knight Riders’ Sunil Narine (4-13) and Sunrisers’ Amit Mishra (4-19), both tweakers of the ball. The followers of the Pepsi IPL have also witnessed two matches ending in Super Overs, giving rise to the theory that bowlers, the proverbial sacrificial lambs, have become smarter, wiser and added variety to their repertoire.
Challengers’ Kohli is the current holder of the Orange Cap with 322 runs from seven matches. And the Purple Cap, the symbol of supremacy among bowlers, is with R. Vinay Kumar, also of Challengers, with 12 wickets from seven games at the rate of 7.42.
So far, only one encounter has produced runs in excess of 200, 209 to be precise, by Mumbai Indians against Delhi Daredevils. In fact, there is a fierce competition for the Purple Cap as Vinay Kumar is being hotly chased by both Narine and Mishra with 11 wickets apiece in six and seven games at the rate of 5.91 and 6.18 respectively.
Sunrisers’ Dale Steyn has the best economic rate of 5.46 in seven ties.
Out of 7,554 runs scored till the end of Saturday, as many as 354 wickets were captured giving us a figure of 21.33 runs per wicket.
Fielding ability
Many may like to attribute to this new trend to improved fielding ability of the teams at the same time, one also needs to concede that the bowlers, with the help of team analysts, have improved their line of attack exploiting the weakness of the batsmen.
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