The last-over blitz

The overall run rate in IPL 2012 is so far a fairly middling 7.69, but there’ve been some sizzling last-over performances, especially by teams batting second. In the first 24 games, there’ve already been three last overs which have fetched more than 16 runs for the team chasing – Ashish Nehra suffered at the hands of AB de Villiers and Saurabh Tiwary as Royal Challengers Bangalore creamed 24 off Pune Warriors earlier this week; Royal Challengers themselves were at the receiving end against Chennai Super Kings, conceding 17 in a last-ball defeat, while Rohit Sharma’s assault on Daniel Christian had yielded 21, and an unlikely win for Mumbai Indians against Deccan Chargers. Warriors had an opportunity to aim for last-over glory too, but they made a mess of it, scoring only seven when they needed 20 against Super Kings.

In four previous seasons of the IPL, there had been only seven instances of teams batting second scoring more than 16 in the final over. In this IPL, thanks to all these high-scoring overs, the average last-over run rate for teams chasing has gone up to almost 12 runs per over, which is easily the best among all seasons; the previous-best was only 10.26, in 2011.

The most runs scored in the last over by a team chasing in all IPL seasons, though, remains 26, in Johannesburg in 2009. Rohit was at the forefront again, this time for Deccan Chargers, smashing Kolkata Knight Riders’ Mashrafe Mortaza to all parts to win the match with a last-ball six. With 52 matches still left this season, though, who’s to say that this mark won’t fall too.