KKR's domination, soaring run-rates, Kohli's aggregate and Narine's all-round genius: Numbers that defined IPL 2024
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From soaring run-rates and the domination of the batters to the individual brilliance of Virat Kohli. From the early ouster of the five-time champions Mumbai Indians to the power-packed show by Kolkata Knight Riders. From the destructive Head-Abhishek Sharma partnership to the great all-round performance by Sunil Narine, we look at the numbers behind some of the biggest stories of the season.
9.56
The highest run-rate ever in a season
It was a season where bat dominated the ball like never before. The average run-rate for the tournament was a staggering 9.56 – the highest ever for a season. The previous highest was 8.99 in 2023. A total of 1260 sixes were hit in 2024 surpassing the 1124 in 2023. Seven of the eight highest totals in IPL history were smashed this season. The record for the highest successful chase was broken, not once, but twice. There were as many as eight 250-plus totals in this edition itself – the previous 16 editions had witnessed just two!
13.46
The partnership run-rate of Travis Head-Abhishek Sharma
Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma redefined batting in the powerplay smashing opposition bowlers into submission through the league stage of the tournament. They broke the T20 record for the highest team total in the powerplay and also gunned down LSG’s 165 in under 10 overs in Hyderabad. They were the trailblazers who set the tournament on fire in the first six overs and others followed suit. The duo added 691 runs in 15 innings with three hundred and two fifty partnerships at a strike rate of 224.3! It was courtesy their blitzkrieg at the top of the order that SRH had the highest run-rate in the powerplay (11.2). Ironically though, they failed in the playoffs – in both the Qualifier 1 and the Final.
35.1 & 21.9
KKR had the best batting average and the best bowling average in the tournament
KKR were the most dominant and consistent team with the best batting average (35.1) and bowling average (21.9) in the tournament. They also boasted of the highest run-rate (10.7) and the best bowling strike rate (14.3) this season. As many as four KKR batters scored in excess of 350 runs with three of them scoring at a rate of more than 150. As many as five KKR bowlers took 17+ wickets in the competition. KKR also had the best spin attack – no spinner took more wickets than Varun Chakravarthy’s 21 while Sunil Narine was the most restrictive bowler of the season after Bumrah.
KKR lost just three matches the entire season which are the joint-lowest for any team in a season. The Royals also lost just three on their way to the trophy in 2008. KKR also demolished the second-best team of the tournament – the Sunrisers – in their three meetings in the season – including two emphatic victories by eight wickets each in the Qualifier 1 and Final.
488 & 17
Sunil Narine was the MVP of the season with an aggregate of 488 and 17 wickets
Sunil Narine became only the third player to achieve the double of scoring 400+ runs and picking 15+ wickets in a season. Shane Watson (472 & 17) achieved the feat in 2008 whereas Jacques Kallis (409 & 15) did it in 2012. Narine was in stupendous form this season hammering 488 runs at a strike rate of 180.7 while also returning with 17 wickets at a brilliant economy rate of 6.7! Narine registered his maiden T20 hundred in the competition while also producing four other high impact performances from the top of the order where he scored 40+ at a rate of in excess of 200! Narine also choked the opposition batters with his offs-spin conceding less than 7.5 per over in as many as 11 matches this season – a truly phenomenal feat in an edition which was dominated by batters and where run-rates soared to an all-time high!
3-34 & 2-14
Mitchell Starc’s Player of the Match performances in Qualifier 1 and Final
Mitchell Starc put up an erratic and inconsistent show in the league stages and questions were raised on his tag as the most expensive player in IPL Auction history. However, the Australian left-arm pacer silenced his critics and showcased why he is amongst the greatest white-ball bowlers in history by producing Player of the Match performances in both the Qualifier 1 and Final. He became the first player to win the award twice in the playoffs in a single season! Starc saw the back of Travis Head with a snorter in Qualifier 1 in the very first over to put SRH on the backfoot. He repeated the feat in the Final – this time getting rid of Abhishek Sharma off the fifth delivery of the innings.
Interestingly, Starc mirrored the achievement of his fellow-Australian teammate, Travis Head, who was the Player of the Match in both the semi-final and the final of the 2023 World Cup in India.
741
Virat Kohli was the highest run-getter of the season
Virat Kohli was the highest run-getter of the season with an aggregate of 741 in 15 innings at a strike rate of 154.7 with one hundred and five fifties. He became only the second batter in IPL history (after Chris Gayle) to score 700+ runs in a season twice. Kohli was head and shoulders above any other batter this season in terms of run-scoring and consistency – just for perspective there was a difference of 158 runs between him and the next on the list – Ruturaj Gaikwad. This difference between the aggregate of the highest and second-highest run-getter is the third-best for any season!
Kohli unleashed a new destructive avatar of him this season where his scoring rate was the highest it has ever been in a single edition. He was also quick off the blocks with a strike rate of 161 off the first 10 deliveries he faced through the season. Kohli also took the attack to the spinners and scored at a rate of 137.1 against them this year – his highest strike rate against their ilk since 2017!
10 & 20
Bumrah’s exceptional show with 20 wickets despite MI’s worst season with 10 losses
MI hit rock bottom and finished last with 10 losses from 14 matches. It was their worst showing ever in a season – they also lost 10 matches in the 2022 edition when the team was going through a transformation. However, this time around, they were one of the pre-tournament favourites.
It is truly remarkable and a testimony of his greatness that Jasprit Bumrah was the highest impact bowler despite the horrendous show by his team in the tournament. Bumrah, for most of the season, was the lone ranger with the ball for the Mumbai Indians and ended with 20 scalps at an exceptional economy rate of 6.48 – by far, the best in the competition. He was brilliant with the new ball in the powerplay and at the death with the lowest economy rate in both phases of play.
Bumrah returned with three-plus wickets in an innings in four matches and an economy of less than 7 in nine – a phenomenal achievement in a tournament where bowlers were plundered like never before!
