The 17th edition of the IPL has reached its business end but there is no respite for the bowlers. Run-rates continue to soar, 200 is being breached almost every encounter and the sixes count will soon touch 1k! With the bat dominating like never before, it is not a surprise that the top 4 teams on the points table are also the four best batting units of the tournament – a correlation which was established mid-season and still holds as we approach the last leg of the group stages.

A trend that has been reversed after the initial stage is the advantage to the home team, while the pendulum has shifted between batting first and chasing in the tournament.

The Royals have continued to dominate and are the most consistent and best all-round team in the tournament. Sunil Narine has taken the season by storm and is the highest-impact player of the season, while T Natarajan has impressed with his bowling at the death and is the joint Purple Cap holder along with Jasprit Bumrah.

We look back at some of the recent trends, patterns and highlights from the tournament.

200 breached 17 times in last 19 matches

This is a staggering statistic! The last 19 games have witnessed the 200-run mark breached on as many as 17 occasions! 200 is now the new 180 and the rate at which teams are powering past the total is mind-boggling! Just for perspective, there were 15 instances of a 200+ total in the first 35 matches this season. If the teams were in Concorde-mode then, they are now on a rocket! Overall, there have been 32 200+ totals this season and with 20 matches still to go – the record of 37 in 2023 is under serious threat!

The combined run-rate this season also stands at an all-time high of 9.58 and the scary part (if you are a bowler) is that it is still increasing. The run-rate stood at 9.39 after the first 17 matches and jumped to 9.49 mid-season and the trend has continued thereafter.

It has not only rained sixes this season but it has been a tornado of maximums with as many as 961 after the first 54 encounters. The record for the most sixes in a season stands at 1124 in 2023 and is in grave danger!

The domination of the top 4

The Royals, Knight Riders, Super Kings and Sunrisers were the four top teams mid-season and, as predicted, have continued their domination in the tournament. They have the best batting averages in the season and the favourites to make the playoffs.

The Royals have the highest batting average and the best economy in the powerplay and death. They also have the maximum in-form players with as many as nine of them giving high impact performances in the tournament. Six different RR players have won the Player of the Match award this season – which is a testimony to their brilliant team-effort in the tournament.

The Knight Riders have been the most aggressive and have the highest run-rate in the tournament. They also have the best bowling average this season. The Sunrisers have been the most prolific batting unit in the powerplay while CSK have the most restrictive spin bowling unit in the competition.

No home advantage anymore

The home team won 17 of the first 22 matches this season but the trend has completely reversed thereafter. The away team has won 20 of the next 32 matches in the tournament.

Chasing has historically been more advantageous not only in the IPL but all T20 cricket. However, the fortunes have fluctuated between the team setting a target and the team batting second this season. The team batting first won 10 of the first 17 matches before the team chasing reversed the trend winning 11 of the next 18 encounters. It has been almost even-steven in the last 19 matches with 9 wins to the team chasing. Overall though, it is neck to neck with 27 wins each.

Sunil Narine – The highest-impact player of the season

Sunil Narine has taken IPL 2024 by storm! He is the leading run-getter for the Knight Riders and their second-highest wicket-taker and could well end the tournament on the top of both the charts – a feat never achieved by any other player in the history of the IPL! His 461 runs have come at the rate of knots at 183.7 per hundred deliveries. Narine’s blitzkrieg starts and his record partnership with Phil Salt at the top of the order have revolutionized KKR’s batting approach and are the main reason for their success this season.

While his batting has made headlines, Narine has also been phenomenal with the ball in the middle overs and is the second-most restrictive bowler this season after Jasprit Bumrah. He has bagged 14 wickets and his economy of 6.6 is outstanding in a tournament where bowlers have been reduced to mere machines.

Narine has produced five high-impact performances with the bat and six with the ball and is by far the season's most valuable player. In a tournament where the Impact Player rule is said to have diminished the role of the all-rounder, Narine is a proud exception!

The Narine-Salt partnership

A mention of Narine will not be complete without adding a bit of Salt in it! Sunil Narine and Phil Salt have taken over from Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma and are now the most prolific partnership of the season. The duo have added 553 runs in 11 innings and been phenomenally consistent with five fifty and one hundred stands at a combined strike rate of 209.5!

They have come into their own in the last couple of weeks smashing 341 runs off just 155 deliveries across five innings at a strike rate of 220! The impetus provided by Narine-Salt at the top of the order has camouflaged the poor show by the KKR middle-order in the tournament.

Note: All numbers updated till the 54th match

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