IPL 2015: What the Statistics Reveal
IPL 2015, the eighth edition of the tournament threw up some rather interesting statistics. Some expected, some not quite.
PACERS BEAT SPINNERS
Considering Indian pitches are usually more spin friendly, the fact that the fast bowlers did better than the tweakers this season is interesting. (IPL 2015 complete coverage | Pics)
A comparison of the top 5 pacers and the top 5 spinners of the tournament shows that the pacers had an average economy of 7.5, with 110 wickets, while the top 5 spinners had an average economy of 8.32, with 80 wickets between them. (All the stats from IPL 2015)
BATTING FIRST WAS THE BETTER OPTION
What should a captain do after winning the toss? Our statistical analysis has revealed that teams batting first won more matches this IPL season.
Out of a total of 60 matches, 4 didn't produce a result.
32 of the remaining 56 matches were won by the team batting first, as compared to 24 by teams batting second. The win percentage for teams batting first was 57%, while that for teams batting second was 43%.
© BCCI
FOREIGN BATSMEN BEAT INDIANS
The IPL is a great platform for Indians and foreigners to come together and play. A quick look at the stats though shows that foreign batsmen outgunned the Indians this IPL.
A total of 2340 runs were scored by the top 5 Indian run-getters this IPL, as compared to 2542 by the top 5 foreigners. The tournament average for Indians in their own conditions was 468, but the foreigners did better with a tournament average of 508.
© BCCI
OPENERS DID THE BEST
What's not a surprise is the fact that openers did better than any other batting position in this IPL.
Openers, after all get to face the maximum number of deliveries.
The statistics show that the openers scored a total of 6720 runs, at an average of 31.4. The position at which batsmen scored the second highest number of runs was Number 3, where 2894 runs were scored, at an average of 28.3. What's interesting though is that batsmen at Number 4 were below those batting at Number 5 and 6 in terms of average.
The overall tournament average for batsmen at Number 4 was 22.4. The averages for Numbers 5 and 6 meanwhile were 27.4 and 23.2 respectively. That is largely due to the fact that batsmen coming in at Numbers 5 and 6 tend to remain not out as compared to those batting at Number 4.
OPENING PARTNERSHIPS WERE THE BEST
So the openers did the best, but which position were the maximum runs scored at vis-a-vis partnerships? The answer is the first wicket.
An analysis of the statistics reveals that the first wicket partnerships on an average were over 35, followed by the second wicket stands, which on an average were worth just over 31.
However, interestingly the 4th wicket stands were better than the 3rd wicket partnerships. The average 4th wicket partnership in IPL 2015 was 29.3. The average 3rd wicket partnership was 26.2.
The 8 teams and their statisticians no doubt have also pulled out these figures and they will be used by them to improve their performances in the next season.