STATS
Follow UsThere was plenty of entertainment from both games on Sunday (April 23). Royal Challengers Bangalore managed to eke out a win by seven runs against Rajasthan Royals in the first match. In the second game, Chennai Super Kings' batters took Kolkata Knight Riders out of the game. Here are a few stats from those two games:
KKR vs CSK
Rahane & Dube special
At 109/1 in 12.1 overs, CSK were already in a great position when Shivam Dube joined hands with Ajinkya Rahane. The pair posted an 85-run stand from just 32 balls for the third wicket and extended that advantage.
Their partnership had a run rate of 15.9. In the IPL, only the pair Mike Hussey and Subramanian Badrinath (73*) in 2008 against Punjab Kings (Kings XI Punjab then) had a better run rate in a 50+ partnership for CSK.
Fast half-centuries galore
Three batters from CSK and two from KKR scored half-centuries in this match. Out of those five, three registered super-quick ones:
- In this game, Rahane registered his 50 off just 24 balls, his second fastest in IPL. His fastest (19) also came this year, and that was against Mumbai Indians
- Shivam Dube got to his fifth 50+ score in the IPL. His 20-ball fifty in today's match is his fastest out of the lot. In his game against RCB, he reached the landmark in 25 balls, his fastest before.
- Among the five batters who scored 50+ in this match, Jason Roy's 19-ball half-century was the quickest. In the IPL, his feat is the joint-second fastest against CSK and the quickest for a KKR batter against CSK.
- In the IPL, this was Rinku Singh's second 50+ score; both have come while chasing and losing cause. In addition, both those scores came in this year's IPL.
- In an IPL match, the five 50+ scores witnessed in this game are the joint-most.
Eden witnesses most sixes, and so does CSK
In their innings, CSK batter smashed 18 sixes. Rahane and Dube hit five each, three from Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway and two by Ravindra Jadeja.
In an IPL innings, these are the most sixes hit by CSK. Previously, there were four innings in which they had hit 17. One came in the 2023 IPL against RCB.
In total, there were 30 sixes hit in this match. In all T20s, these are the most sixes witnessed at Eden Gardens. Before this fixture, in a game between MI and KKR in 2019, there were 29 sixes, the highest then.
A high against KKR
With the help of scintillating half-centuries by Rahane, Dube, and Conway, CSK posted 235, their third-highest total in the IPL. CSK had scored 246 against RR in 2010 and 240 against PBKS in their first-ever IPL match in 2008.
Against KKR, this is the highest total posted by a team. In their previous match at Eden Gardens, against Sunrirsers Hyderabad, they conceded 228, the joint-highest against them before tonight.
A new and unbelievable version of Rahane
This season has been one for the old stalwarts. Rahane has been the best among the lot. In this IPL, he has scored 209 runs at a whopping strike rate of 199.1, the best among batters with 100+ runs.
In his match against KKR, Rahane smashed an unbeaten knock of 71 at a strike rate of 244.8. This is his best strike rate in a 50+ run innings in all T20s. The Mumbaikar hit five sixes in his knock, the joint-most for him in an innings.
Devon Consistent Conway
Conway did not have a great start to his IPL 2023 campaign. He had scores of 1, 47, and 0. However, the left-hander from New Zealand has bounced back strongly.
He has hit four 50+ scores on the bounce. In the IPL, his four consecutive 50+ scores are the joint-most for a CSK batter. Faf du Plessis, in 2021, also had four on the trot.
RCB vs RR
Faf continues his excellent form
Faf has been one of the vital cogs in RCB's batting success this season. In today's match, he also stood along with Glenn Maxwell and registered his third consecutive 50+ score. It's his second-best streak of most successive 50+ scores.
With 405 runs, he leads the Orange Cap list by 91 runs from Conway. He has been involved in five 100+ partnerships this season, three with Maxwell and two with Kohli.
Trent Boult and his love for first-over wickets
Once again, this season, Boult started with a wicket in the first over of the innings—the first ball of the match.
In the IPL, he has 21 first-over wickets, one behind Bhuvneshwar Kumar's tally of 22. To spice it up. All his 21 wickets have been from IPL 2020. In this period, while he has 21, the next best is just five (Archer, Shami, Siraj, Bhuvneshwar & Mukesh Choudhary).
He has bagged six wickets in the first overs this season, the second-best in a season of IPL. He only holds the record with eight in 2020.
Few other stats
- Ravindra Jadeja has snaffled five left-handers this season, the most for him in an IPL season. In 2014 and 2021, he had four wickets against lefties.
- In the IPL, this is only the third instance of Sunil Narine bowling just two overs in a complete T20 match. The other two occasions came in 2019 against PBKS (Kolkata) and DC in 2020 (Sharjah).
- With two catches in the match against RR, Virat Kohli became the third fielder to have 100+ catches.
- En route to his knock of 77 from 44 balls, Maxwell became the fifth RCB batter to score 1000 runs in the IPL. Among the five, he is the second fastest to the feat (34 innings). Chris Gayle reached the landmark in just 20 innings.
