IPL TRENDS
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Teams relying less on spinners?
You would always associate Chennai Super Kings with spin but things have been completely different in the Indian Premier League 2024. The Men in Yellow have played six games so far and have used only 39 overs of spin, of which 22 have come from Ravindra Jadeja. Last season, that number was 54 for CSK at the end of their sixth match.
Even at home, those number of overs have dropped from 29 (three games) to 19 (three games). This season, Ravindra Jadeja is the only spinner who has featured in all six games for CSK. Apart from him, Maheesh Theekshana has played three and Moeen Ali has played one. Chennai have instead preferred going with two overseas seamers - Mustafizur Rahman and Matheesha Pathirana.
The two seamers have missed a couple of games and that’s probably the only reason why Theekshana and Moeen have got some game-time. If not for that, those numbers of overs of spin would have been even lesser for the Super Kings.
In fact, they are not the only ones. Apart from Gujarat Titans, there’s not a single franchise this year who have used more overs of spin than what they did by this stage of the IPL 2023. Kolkata Knight Riders had 68.4 overs of spin after six games in the IPL 2023, which is now just 43.4 after five matches in this edition.
All this despite spinners having a better economy than seamers. This could probably be because of batting teams becoming more match-up friendly and pacers taking more wickets. After all, amongst the top-14 wicket-takers this season, Yuzvendra Chahal is the only tweaker.
Powerplay batting being taken to different level
The batting in the first six overs has become more and more aggressive, with teams not only trying to maximise the powerplay but also trying to put themselves in a position from where they can bat the opposition out of the game.
Thrice this season, we have seen the 80-run mark getting breached in the powerplay. In 29 games, we have already had 16 60-plus powerplay totals, with seven times teams even crossing the 70-run mark. Among batters who have hit at least 100 runs in the powerplay this year, nine of them have a strike rate of 150 or more.
Left-arm seamers doing well
So far this season, there are 10 left-arm pacemen with five or more wickets. At the end of 29 games last year, there were only six. In the ongoing IPL 2024, we have four left-arm pacers in the list of top-10 wicket-takers. The likes of Mustafizur, Khaleel Ahmed, Arshdeep Singh, Trent Boult and Yash Dayal have all been in wicket-taking form.
One more trend developing in this edition has been left-handed batters getting out to left-arm seamers. Quinton de Kock and Sam Curran have got out to them on four occasions, while Yashasvi Jaiswal, Devdutt Padikkal, David Warner, Tilak Varma and Venkatesh Iyer have also been victims to left-arm pace on multiple occasions.
Too many sixes being hit
The sixes are being hit for fun in the IPL 2024. It’s only been 29 matches and we have already witnessed 487 maximums, with Mumbai Indians leading the list with 67 sixes. At the end of 29 games in the 2023 IPL, we had seen 434 sixes, 53 fewer than the ongoing season.
At this stage last year, there were three teams - Sunrisers Hyderabad, Gujarat and Delhi Capitals - with less than 30 maximums. This season, there’s only one - Gujarat, with 26 sixes, still 11 more than the Capitals last year. There are 15 batters with 10 or more maximums in IPL 2024, compared to 13 last year at this stage of the tournament.
Left-arm spinners bowling quicker and quicker
The surfaces are getting flatter and flatter, the batters are becoming more and more powerful, leading to spinners bowling quicker and quicker. Left-arm spinners to be more precise. Last season, Krunal Pandya, Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja were the only three left-arm spinners to touch the 100 kmph by the end of 29 games.
This year, we have already seen nine left-armers touch that mark. Someone like Manimaran Siddharth has constantly been bowling over 100 kmph. Mayank Dagar, Harpreet Brar and Shahbaz Ahmed are also not too far behind. The idea is to not give the batters enough time to get under the ball and that has led to spinners like Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav bowling a couple of deliveries over 100.
What has been the impact of toss?
In six of the first nine matches of IPL 2024, the team winning the toss went on to lose the match. However, we are back to the normal and usual days of T20s. In the last 20 encounters, 14 have been won by the side winning the toss.
