IPL 2023: THROUGH THE LENS OF STATISTICS

Author: Gautam Sodani

The IPL 2023 season has been quite a thrilling ride, packed with excitement and surprises. Although there were no super-over contests throughout the two-month journey spanning 74 matches, but the batting skills displayed by all ten teams and the impressive six-hitting abilities of the players (specially Rinku Singh) made this edition of the IPL truly exceptional. It's worth mentioning that out of the 146 innings played (excluding LSG v/s CSK abandoned match), there were an impressive 37 instances where teams scored more than 200 runs. A total of 12 centuries were being scored by nine players (most by Shubhman Gill) and 141 half-centuries by a set of 59 players (most by Faf Du Plessis).

The average score in the first innings for all teams in the IPL was 183 runs. However, when excluding matches played on the slower pitches of Lucknow and Chennai, the average score in the first innings increased to 189 runs in the 58 matches held across 10 different grounds in India.

These stats beat the record of all previous editions of IPL.

Was this due to impact substitutes rule?

May be!

But firstly, it is to note that impact substitutes as batsmen were rarely called upon in the first innings, as teams generally preferred to utilize them in the second innings. In fact, there were only 5 instances where a batsman was called upon as an impact player in the first innings. This was a natural occurrence as impact players can only be called upon after 14 overs have been bowled, so teams focused on selecting players who could make a substantial contribution to the team for the maximum duration of the match and that’s why they were mostly being called in the second innings of the match.

What role did impact substitutes play in this season and how impactful were they?

Out of the total 146 innings played, impact substitutes were utilized in 138 of them. Among these, pure batsmen were called in 69 instances, pure bowlers in 63 instances, and all-rounders in 6 instances.

As batsmen, impact substitutes scored runs at an average of 21.2 with a strike rate of 128.6. As bowlers, impact substitutes bowled at an economy rate of 9.1 with an average of 32.5 and strike rate of 21. So, it can be said that both bowlers and batsmen did quite an average job for their teams. But what really this impact substitutes brought to the table were magnificent spells of Pathirana (CSK), Noor Ahmed (GT), and Suyash Sharma (KKR). Together, they delivered remarkable bowling spells as impact substitutes, boasting an impressive economy rate of 8, an average of 20, and a strike rate of 15. These standout performances by specific impact substitutes significantly elevated their teams' overall performances and added an extra dimension to the game.

Furthermore, this rule provided valuable opportunities to many young players to shine and allowed teams to experiment with different combinations and achieve optimal balance. Teams often preferred to have six bowling options, consisting of four or five specialist bowlers and one or two all-rounders. The impact substitutes rule enabled teams to bolster their batting unit by adding an extra specialist batsman. However, this emphasis on specialist batsmen potentially diminished the significance of all-rounders, which could pose challenges for India in international matches where there is no facility of impact substitutes.

The impact players in the IPL had a significant role beyond just their numerical statistics. One of the notable aspects of the impact substitutes rule was the opportunities it provided to players like Faf du Plessis, who faced injury concerns and were unable to field. In such cases, Faf was able to contribute to his team by coming in solely as a batsman and then being replaced by a bowler as the impact substitute in the second innings. Hence, the numbers of impact substitutes as well as of the specific players they substituted are crucial in understanding the impact of this rule.

Which team made the most out of this impact player rule?

Finding the right combination of eleven players has always remained a task for captain in cricket but this year in IPL, it was an added burden to find a right combination of twelve players. Let's examine how the two most successful teams of the season utilized their impact players.

Firstly, CSK effectively utilized their impact bowlers, who performed admirably by taking 12 wickets at an average of 25.5 and a strike rate of 16. On the other hand, GT's impact batsmen contributed significantly to their team's success, scoring a total of 215 runs with an average of 27.

However, it was KKR who stood out among all teams in terms of maximizing the efficiency of their impact substitutes. Their impact batsmen played a crucial role by scoring 207 runs at an impressive average of 29.5 and a strike rate of 153. Additionally, their impact bowlers made valuable contributions by picking up 10 wickets at an average of 20 and a strike rate of 16, while maintaining an excellent economy rate of 7.5. This is shown below.

Role of toss

Let’s move to another aspect of the game – the toss. It’s always been a topic of debate if toss biases the results of the match in favor of team winning it. This year’s IPL does not support this hypothesis. Teams winning the toss have won 46% of the matches while teams losing the toss won more.

Among the various grounds, Delhi's Arun Jaitley Stadium, Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium and Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium seemed to favour the team winning the toss, as they won 71%, 57% and 57% of the games respectively on these grounds. On the other hand, Kolkata's Eden Gardens became an unfavourable ground for teams winning the toss, as they only managed to win 28% of the matches.

These findings challenge the notion that winning the toss has a significant impact on the outcome of matches in the IPL.

Chase dominance at the toss but not at winning

Another interesting observation regarding the toss in this year's IPL is that 72% of the teams winning the toss chose to bowl first, indicating a preference for chasing the target. However, it is noteworthy that the chasing teams only won 43% of the matches. This also very well explains why toss didn’t play any role in this year’s IPL. It raises questions about the teams and their support staff failing to accurately assess the pitch conditions and make informed decisions.

Furthermore, it is intriguing to note that the top three teams in the tournament, namely CSK, GT, and MI, had the best record of effectively utilizing the toss to their advantage. After winning the toss, these teams went on to win 60%, 66%, and 60% of their games respectively. This factor sheds light on why these teams experienced success in the season - their ability to assess pitch conditions played a vital role in their decision-making process. However, these teams also won the maximum number of tosses (10, 9 and 10 respectively).

On the other hand, KKR, despite having best performing impact players, faced significant challenges in utilizing the toss to their advantage as they had a success rate of just 20% after winning the toss.

This analysis emphasizes the importance of accurately assessing the pitch conditions in order to make informed decisions regarding batting or bowling first after winning the toss. The top-performing teams in the IPL demonstrated their proficiency in this aspect, which contributed to their overall success in the tournament.

How different pitches behaved?

During this season of the IPL, the pitches in Mohali, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Ahmedabad proved to be extremely favourable for batting, as indicated by the high average first innings scores of 198, 198, 196, and 195 respectively. Dharamshala and Guwahati also provided thrilling batting encounters, with average first innings scores of 200 and 198 respectively, although only a couple of matches took place on these grounds. Kudos to the groundsmen for their efforts in preparing such favourable pitches!

In contrast, Lucknow emerged as the slowest ground among the 12 venues, with an average first innings score of a mere 152, followed by Chennai with an average first innings score of 170.

Among all the IPL grounds, only Mumbai and Delhi's home ground proved to be advantageous for teams chasing the target. On the other hand, the majority of the remaining grounds had a higher success rate for teams batting first.

Lastly, after a three-year hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, IPL 2023 marked the return of the concept of home ground and away grounds. It was anticipated that teams would carefully assess their home conditions and utilize them to their benefit. However, the majority of teams failed to capitalize on this opportunity, with only three out of ten teams truly making the most of their home conditions. And these three teams are again, none other than CSK, GT and MI. CSK emerged victorious in five out of eight games played in Chennai, while GT secured five wins out of nine games in Ahmedabad and MI also showcased their dominance by winning five out of seven games played in Mumbai.

WTC around the corner

These statistics serve as a clear reminder that while matches may be won by individual players, winning a tournament requires careful analysis of all conditions and strategic selection of the best team combinations. World Test Championship (WTC) Final is beginning from June 7^th , to be played at the Oval, London. There will be no home advantage to any country, so the team assessing the conditions well will emerge as victorious. Hoping for India to take cues from IPL 2023 and make well-calculated decisions and emerge victorious, securing the ICC trophy after a wait of 10 years.