More runs, sixes, and close finishes
In a tournament of several stats highlights, the team with the best numbers deservedly lifted the cup

It wasn't a great IPL for spinners, but Sunil Narine's efforts stood out • AFP
Teams | W/L | Runs scored | Ave/ RR | Wkts taken | Ave/ ER | Ave diff | RR diff |
Kolkata Knight Riders | 12/ 5 | 2504 | 26.63/ 7.70 | 107 | 22.11/ 7.16 | 4.52 | 0.54 |
Chennai Super Kings | 10/ 8 | 2831 | 28.02/ 8.01 | 107 | 24.49/ 7.72 | 3.53 | 0.29 |
Delhi Daredevils | 11/ 7 | 2645 | 28.13/ 8.24 | 101 | 27.17/ 7.94 | 0.96 | 0.30 |
Mumbai Indians | 10/ 7 | 2462 | 23.22/ 7.43 | 106 | 23.86/ 7.65 | -0.64 | -0.22 |
Though it was the batting that really turned it on in the final, soaking up the pressure and chasing an above-par score, Knight Riders' bowling was their stronger suit, and it stayed consistent through all stages of the 20 overs that they spent on the field. In the Powerplay overs Jacques Kallis was among the best for them, bowling 19 overs and taking 7 for 114. Sunil Narine was obviously outstanding, with figures of 3 for 74 in 16 overs, while L Balaji, who missed out on the final, had 3 for 51 from 10 overs. The disappointment was Brett Lee: he went for 169 runs in 22 overs, and took just two wickets. Overall in the Powerplay overs, only one team - Mumbai Indians - had a better economy rate than Knight Riders.
Team | Powerplay - wkts | Ave/ ER | 6.1-15 - wkts | Ave/ ER | 15.1-20 - wkts | Ave/ ER |
Kolkata Knght Riders | 22 | 31.90/ 6.69 | 37 | 27.29/ 6.77 | 48 | 13.62/ 8.26 |
Chennai Super Kings | 21 | 39.57/ 7.33 | 41 | 28.80/ 7.36 | 45 | 13.53/ 8.57 |
Delhi Daredevils | 27 | 28.81/ 6.98 | 39 | 31.41/ 7.70 | 35 | 21.20/ 9.47 |
Mumbai Indians | 24 | 28.12/ 6.38 | 37 | 30.45/ 7.37 | 45 | 16.17/ 9.62 |
Royal Challengers Bangalore | 17 | 39.64/ 7.24 | 35 | 29.82/ 7.73 | 37 | 21.27/ 10.56 |
Kings XI Punjab | 23 | 29.47/ 6.83 | 33 | 32.72/ 7.50 | 37 | 18.83/ 9.65 |
Rajasthan Royals | 23 | 30.30/ 6.92 | 37 | 27.59/ 7.09 | 32 | 21.37/ 9.86 |
Deccan Chargers | 21 | 32.19/ 7.26 | 34 | 29.85/ 7.51 | 28 | 25.50/ 10.73 |
Pune Warriors | 18 | 38.94/ 7.08 | 29 | 37.37/ 7.52 | 32 | 19.96/ 9.12 |
One of the highlights of IPL season 5 was the number of games that were decided in the last over. There were seven games in which the team chasing won off the last ball - Super Kings achieved it three times, and Mumbai Indians twice. Twelve more matches were won in the last over by the team batting second, while in six more games, the team batting first won by less than ten runs. Thus, in the 74 games in which there were results - two were washed out - there were 25 where either the team batting first won by less than ten runs, or the team chasing won in the last over. As a percentage of total matches, that's only bettered by the 2009 edition in South Africa, when 20 out of 56 matches had these results.
Year | Matches | <10 runs* | Last over# | Percentage |
2012 | 74 | 6 | 19 | 33.78 |
2011 | 72 | 4 | 11 | 20.83 |
2010 | 59 | 3 | 11 | 23.73 |
2009 | 56 | 7 | 13 | 35.71 |
2008 | 58 | 7 | 11 | 31.03 |
# Team batting second won in last over
Overall, IPL 2012 had more of pretty much everything - matches, runs, wickets, sixes and fifty-plus scores. (They had more than their share of controversies too, but that's beyond the scope of this piece.) There were two fewer fours struck this year than in 2011, but that was more than compensated by the number of sixes - 731 this year, compared to 639 in 2011. There were six centuries too, which equalled the mark set in two previous seasons.
Year | Matches | Runs | Wkts | Average | RPO | 100s/ 50s | 4s/ 6s |
2012 | 75 | 22,453 | 857 | 26.19 | 7.82 | 6/ 96 | 1911/ 731 |
2011 | 73 | 21,154 | 813 | 26.01 | 7.72 | 6/ 89 | 1913/ 639 |
2010 | 60 | 18,864 | 720 | 26.20 | 8.12 | 4/ 88 | 1709/ 585 |
2009 | 57 | 16,320 | 697 | 23.41 | 7.48 | 2/ 68 | 1316/ 506 |
2008 | 58 | 17,937 | 689 | 26.03 | 8.30 | 6/ 83 | 1702/ 622 |
Despite the outstanding performance of Narine and Muttiah Muralitharan, spinners overall didn't have such a great time - among the top eight wicket-takers, there was only one spinner. In fact, the average for spinners slipped past 30 for the first time since the opening IPL season, and 31.35 is the highest that spinners have collectively averaged in an IPL season.
Season | Pace-wkts | Ave/ ER | Spin-wkts | Ave/ ER |
2012 | 531 | 27.19/ 7.81 | 241 | 31.35/ 7.41 |
2011 | 470 | 28.12/ 7.80 | 268 | 27.60/ 7.11 |
2010 | 405 | 29.64/ 8.32 | 210 | 28.80/ 7.34 |
2009 | 388 | 26.25/ 7.65 | 226 | 24.77/ 6.77 |
2008 | 445 | 29.23/ 8.09 | 134 | 30.38/ 8.18 |
S Rajesh is stats editor of ESPNcricinfo. Follow him on Twitter