Smart Stats: Conceding runs in the negative

The match between Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab at the Wankhede Stadium witnessed outstanding spells by arguably two of the best bowlers in the T20 format. Both Jasprit Bumrah and Andrew Tye earned a negative Smart Economy - one of ESPNcricinfo's new metrics for the T20 format. That means, in the context of the match and historical averages of the overs bowled by them, they ended up saving more notional runs than they actually conceded. Who else has managed such a feat this IPL? ESPNcricinfo looks at five performances that fetched the bowlers a negative Smart Economy.

With Kings XI Punjab needing 42 off the last four overs, Bumrah gave away just four runs in the 17th to arrest the momentum Kings XI had gathered from the previous Mayank Markande over that had gone for 17 runs. After the 18th over went for 15 runs, Bumrah snuffed out Kings XI's fight in the 19th by dismissing the dangerous KL Rahul and conceding only six runs. His two overs at death had gone for only 10 runs while the other three of the last five overs cost 46. Added to his two frugal overs earlier in the innings, Bumrah's economy of 3.75 - in a match where bowlers conceded runs at an economy of 8.72 - had actually saved 19.68 runs. Bumrah ended up with a Smart Economy of -1.17 - the best for any bowler in a match this season.

The first innings of the same match saw another seesaw battle for momentum. Mumbai Indians had got off to a flyer, having made 21 runs off the third over. However, Andrew Tye applied the brakes in the next over, dismissing Evin Lewis while conceding just two runs off it. Mumbai wrested the advantage back in the fifth over by scoring 18 runs, only to lose it in the next over, when Tye conceded three runs and took the wickets of an in-form Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan. Tye's two overs in the Powerplay had gone for just five runs while the rest had conceded 55 runs from four overs. He came back later to bowl two overs at the death for just 11 runs. Tye had an economy rate of 4.00 in a match where the overall economy for the bowlers was 8.72. He ended up saving 18.92 runs. Tye's Smart Economy of -0.73 for the match was the second-best of the season.

Narine may not have bowled the tough overs like Bumrah and Tye in the above instances, but he managed an economy of 4.25 in a match where over 400 runs were scored. With CSK requiring 75 off the last six, the 15th over went for 17 runs and had them primed to launch a late assault. Narine did his part by conceding just seven runs off the next over - also his last - against MS Dhoni and Sam Billings. However, Super Kings still managed to win as the last four overs went for 53 runs. Narine, though, finished with a Smart Economy of -0.49 and ended up saving 18.96 runs for his team.

Rashid Khan was at his indecipherable best against Mumbai Indians when he totalled three overs of dots and conceded just 13 runs off the remaining six balls. It wasn't a high-scoring match, but Rashid's economy of 3.25 - over two times better than the overall match economy of 7.15 - meant that he saved 13.98 runs for his team. Rashid's Smart Economy of -0.24 in that match is the fourth-best in this IPL.

In a match where Bumrah went for 34 runs in three overs and pacers registered an economy of 8.74, Jofra Archer gave away just 16 runs from his four overs to go alongside the wickets of Suryakumar Yadav and the Mumbai captain Rohit Sharma. Archer's economy of 4.00 was twice as good as the overall match economy of 8.00. That translates to him having saved 16.05 runs, and a Smart Economy of -0.01.