An analysis of individual batting and bowling performances in IPL 2012
Madhusudhan Ramakrishnan28-May-2012Just when it seemed like Chennai Super Kings would continue their march towards a third consecutive title, Manvinder Bisla and Jacques Kallis produced their best batting performances of IPL 2012 to give Kolkata Knight Riders their first IPL championship. Bisla, who was only included because of an injury to L Balaji, made a superb 89 and added 136 with Kallis, who scored 69. Super Kings, who qualified for the play-offs with great difficulty, were outstanding in the two play-off games before the final. They batted first on both occasions and registered comfortable wins after posting huge totals of 187 and 222. M Vijay, badly out of form in the league phase, turned it around with a stunning century against Delhi Daredevils. His 113, scored at a strike-rate of 194.82, is fifth on the list of top batting performances in IPL 2012. The rest of the batsmen in the game managed a strike-rate of 141.61. Another notable performance from last week (in 12th position) was MS Dhoni’s rapid half-century against Mumbai Indians. Dhoni scored at an outstanding strike-rate of 255 in a match where the other batsmen managed a combined strike-rate of 122.22.Chris Gayle, the leading run-getter in IPL 2012, with 733 runs, is on top of the list of best batting performances for his 128 against Daredevils. Shane Watson is second and is followed by AB de Villiers, who scored a brilliant 59 against Rajasthan Royals. While six of the top ten innings are centuries, the lowest score to make the top-20 list is Dhoni’s 51 against Mumbai Indians. David Warner, who scored his second IPL century in the game against Deccan Chargers, is the only player with two innings in the top ten. Interestingly, there are only three innings in the top 20 (two for Knight Riders and one for Super Kings) for the finalists. This is a strong indicator of the fact that the teams were not overly reliant on one or two players like Royal Challengers Bangalore and Daredevils.
BatsmanTeamOppositionRunsPointsChris GayleRoyal Challengers BangaloreDelhi Daredevils12861.54Shane WatsonRajasthan RoyalsPune Warriors9061.18AB de VilliersRoyal Challengers BangaloreRajasthan Royals5959.31Rohit SharmaMumbai IndiansKolkata Knight Riders10958.38M VijayChennai Super KingsDelhi Daredevils11357.29Mayank AgarwalRoyal Challengers BangaloreMumbai Indians6454.89David WarnerDelhi DaredevilsDeccan Chargers10954.73Ajinkya RahaneRajasthan RoyalsRoyal Challengers Bangalore10354.25Kevin PietersenDelhi DaredevilsDeccan Chargers10353.46David WarnerDelhi DaredevilsKings XI Punjab7953.33Gautam GambhirKolkata Knight RidersRoyal Challengers Bangalore9352.82MS DhoniChennai Super KingsMumbai Indians5152.40Virender SehwagDelhi DaredevilsPune Warriors8752.09Virender SehwagDelhi DaredevilsRajasthan Royals7350.03JP DuminyDeccan ChargersRoyal Challengers Bangalore7449.89Owais ShahRajasthan RoyalsRoyal Challengers Bangalore6049.83Ajinkya RahaneRajasthan RoyalsKings XI Punjab9847.72Manvinder BislaKolkata Knight RidersChennai Super Kings8947.22Chris GayleRoyal Challengers BangaloreKings XI Punjab8746.16Cameron WhiteDeccan ChargersPune Warriors7846.14Needless to say, Gayle ended as the top batsman in IPL 2012. Remarkably, his points tally is more than 30% higher than that of the second-placed Gautam Gambhir. Gayle, without cutting down on his aggression, has managed a high average of 61.08. Kevin Pietersen played just eight matches but was exceptional in the short period. He finished marginally behind Gambhir in third position. Chargers finished second from bottom but spoilt Royal Challengers’ party in their final game. They were able to compete on the batting front purely because of the form of Cameron White and Shikhar Dhawan, who are in fourth and fifth positions respectively. Faf du Plessis, who is in sixth position, could not find a place in the Super Kings team towards the end of the tournament but did his bit in the league phase when the rest of the line-up was struggling for runs. Steven Smith’s presence in the top ten is also ironic because his team (Pune Warriors) lost nine consecutive games towards the end of the league phase.
BatsmanMatchesRunsAverageStrike ratePointsChris Gayle1573361.08160.7427.85Gautam Gambhir1759036.87143.5520.99Kevin Pietersen830561.00147.3420.23Cameron White1347943.54149.6820.08Shikhar Dhawan1556940.64129.6119.10Virender Sehwag1649533.00161.2317.70Faf du Plessis1339833.16130.9217.10Ajinkya Rahane1656040.00129.3316.93AB de Villiers1631939.87161.1116.58Steven Smith1536240.22135.5814.88Gayle’s top-class run in IPL 2012 has clearly established his status as the best batsman across all the seasons of the IPL. Shaun Marsh started the season on top but fell away as the tournament went on. Watson, who is in third place, had a spectacular 2008 season, when he was player of the tournament and has been fairly consistent ever since. The last six positions include five Indian batsmen and Michael Hussey. Dhoni, who was outside the top-ten, has moved up after making some vital middle-order contributions in the league phase and play-offs.
BatsmanMatchesRunsAverageStrike ratePointsChris Gayle43180450.11161.7924.30Shaun Marsh42160345.80135.9620.11Shane Watson39124240.06146.8018.75Matthew Hayden32110736.90137.5118.55Virender Sehwag66187930.30167.3116.24Sachin Tendulkar64204737.90119.2115.90Michael Hussey2995839.91120.6515.86Gautam Gambhir72206533.30128.9015.52Suresh Raina81225433.64139.3915.41MS Dhoni78178237.12136.4414.82In a week dominated by the bat, there were hardly any noteworthy bowling performances. Even the mysterious Sunil Narine found the going tough in the final as he leaked 37 runs off his four overs, his most expensive analysis this season. Ravindra Jadeja and Dale Steyn continue to retain the top two spots on the list of best bowling performances in IPL 2012. Ben Hilfenhaus, who returned figures of 2 for 25 in the final, was highly effective for Super Kings, especially in the opening overs. He is in fourth position for his superb spell of 2 for 8 against Rajasthan Royals. Steyn often bowled superbly for Chargers only to see the other bowlers fritter away the advantage. He, however, is the only bowler to figure twice in the top ten. Surprisingly, Morne Morkel, the leading wicket-taker in IPL 2012, does not have a single performance in the top ten and has his best performance of 4 for 20 coming in at 17th position.
BowlerTeamOppositionSpellPointsRavindra JadejaChennai Super KingsDeccan Chargers5/1659.08Dale SteynDeccan ChargersRoyal Challengers Bangalore3/859.06Ajit ChandilaRajasthan RoyalsPune Warriors4/1357.96Ben HilfenhausChennai Super KingsRajasthan Royals2/852.95KP AppannaRoyal Challengers BangaloreRajasthan Royals4/1952.22Pavan NegiDelhi DaredevilsRajasthan Royals4/1851.96Sunil NarineKolkata Knight RidersKings XI Punjab5/1951.40Dale SteynDeccan ChargersMumbai Indians3/1249.66Dimitri MascarenhasKings XI PunjabPune Warriors5/2549.33L BalajiKolkata Knight RidersRoyal Challengers Bangalore4/1849.10Munaf PatelMumbai IndiansDeccan Chargers4/2048.40Shaun TaitRajasthan RoyalsPune Warriors3/1347.38Shahbaz NadeemDelhi DaredevilsDeccan Chargers3/1647.14Lasith MalingaMumbai IndiansRoyal Challengers Bangalore2/1347.06Siddharth TrivediRajasthan RoyalsRoyal Challengers Bangalore4/2546.87Muttiah MuralitharanRoyal Challengers BangaloreChennai Super Kings3/2146.38Morne MorkelDelhi DaredevilsKings XI Punjab4/2045.66Kevon CooperRajasthan RoyalsKings XI Punjab4/2645.60Dhawal KulkarniMumbai IndiansRajasthan Royals3/1844.90Ashok DindaPune WarriorsMumbai Indians4/1844.80Narine’s poor performance in the final meant that he dropped down slightly to second on the list of top bowlers in IPL 2012. Steyn, on the other hand, produced impressive spells in his last few matches including the game against Royal Challengers. He picked up 18 wickets in 12 matches at an excellent economy rate of 6.10 and finishes IPL 2012 as the best bowler. Muttiah Muralitharan, who is in third position, provided Royal Challengers’ weak bowling attack with the much-needed experience. Lasith Malinga and the leading wicket-taker Morne Morkel are in fourth and fifth positions. Brad Hogg rolled back the years and picked up ten wickets at an impressive economy rate of 7.02. The presence of Parvinder Awana and Azhar Mahmood in the top ten showcases the strength of Kings XI Punjab’s pace attack.
BowlerMatchesWicketsAverageEconomy ratePointsDale Steyn121815.836.1029.12Sunil Narine152413.505.4728.02Muttiah Muralitharan101517.336.5027.67Lasith Malinga142215.906.3025.76Morne Morkel162518.127.1924.75Parvinder Awana121721.887.9123.60Brad Hogg91025.307.0222.49Azhar Mahmood111423.507.7122.00Zaheer Khan161726.647.5520.86Munaf Patel121524.467.8620.80Malinga retains top spot on the list of best bowlers across the IPL seasons followed by Muralitharan and Steyn. The next two spots have been taken by two spinners Amit Mishra and Anil Kumble. Morne Morkel, by virtue of his recent display. is in sixth spot. R Ashwin, who conceded 41 runs in Super Kings’ defeat in the final, finds a place in the top ten because of his economy rate of 6.22 across the five seasons. The top ten is rounded off by Ryan Harris, who has a highly impressive value of wickets per match (1.29), and Ashish Nehra.
BowlerMatchesWicketsAverageEconomy ratePointsLasith Malinga568316.636.3625.44Muttiah Muralitharan555724.476.4823.50Dale Steyn525922.106.5823.49Amit Mishra597420.677.1023.08Anil Kumble424523.516.5722.97Morne Morkel313823.267.3622.23R Ashwin494922.956.2222.05Munaf Patel577021.487.3721.51Ryan Harris344422.157.6921.45Ashish Nehra444824.837.5520.93In the final, Kallis once again proved the value of an allrounder in the line-up. He bowled an important spell in the end overs and picked up the crucial wicket of Hussey before scoring 69 off 49 balls to set up Knight Riders’ chase. Dwayne Bravo did better than Kallis with the bat but finished marginally behind on the bowling front. Kieron Pollard often came in lower down the order for Mumbai Indians but still managed to make a strong impact. His bowling in the middle overs also proved crucial to Mumbai Indians’ run to the play-offs. Pollard, Bravo and Kallis are the only allrounders with strong performances on both the batting and bowling fronts (ten-plus points in batting and bowling). Shakib Al Hasan and Albie Morkel had an ordinary run with the bat but did much better with the ball. Considering he came at such a huge price, Jadeja was a disappointment. Mahmood, however, justified his inclusion with a fairly consistent all-round run. Watson, who managed six wickets in seven matches, had a terrific impact with bat and ball for Royals. His total tally of points was 41.88 with a distribution of 23.88 for batting and 18.00 on the bowling front.
PlayerBatting pointsBowling pointsTotal pointsShakib-Al-Hasan6.5324.5231.05Kieron Pollard11.1719.4830.65Azhar Mahmood8.5222.0030.52Dwayne Bravo13.2716.8230.09Jacques Kallis10.6817.0627.74Piyush Chawla2.2119.7821.99Albie Morkel3.1816.9320.11Ravindra Jadeja6.5610.7217.28