Chennai's dominance, lack of huge scores and the role of spin
A stats review of IPL 2011, and how it compares with previous editions
While most teams have struggled for consistency through a single season, Chennai have not only been dominant from start to finish of one tournament, but have also been exceptional across all four editions of the IPL. They lost a close final in the inaugural season to Rajasthan and made the semi-final the following year where they lost to Bangalore. In 2010, they beat fancied Mumbai Indians in the final before going on to lift the Champions League later in the year.
Team | W/L ratio (2011) | Wins(bat first/chasing) -2011 | Bat avg/Bowl avg (2011) | RR/ER (2011) | W/L ratio- overall | Wins(bat first/chasing)- overall | Bat avg/Bowl avg- overall | RR/ER- overall |
Chennai | 2.20 | 8/3 | 34.59/25.27 | 8.13/7.62 | 1.54 | 23/14 | 30.85/24.87 | 8.25/7.89 |
Bangalore | 1.66 | 3/7 | 31.25/28.87 | 8.39/8.07 | 1.00 | 9/22 | 24.22/28.57 | 7.83/7.97 |
Mumbai | 1.66 | 5/5 | 27.90/22.16 | 7.44/7.48 | 1.26 | 19/14 | 26.17/22.68 | 7.96/7.65 |
Kolkata | 1.14 | 3/5 | 28.49/23.54 | 7.51/7.26 | 0.80 | 11/13 | 26.04/27.37 | 7.60/7.82 |
The average runs per wicket in IPL 2011 was very similar to that of the previous IPL tournaments that were played in India (2008 and 2010). However the run-rate (7.72) was slightly lower than the figures for those seasons (8.30 and 8.12). The 2009 IPL, which was played in South Africa, has been the most bowler-friendly edition with the lowest average and run-rate among the four seasons. In the early part of IPL 2011, chasing had proved to be the better option and nearly every team except Chennai employed the strategy. Overall, teams won 40 games chasing and 32 batting first. The ratio of wins chasing to wins batting first is lower only than the first season when teams won 36 times while chasing and 22 while batting first.
Season | Matches | Wins(bat first/chasing) | Average | Run-rate | Boundary% | 100/50 |
2008 | 58 | 22/36 | 26.03 | 8.30 | 58.76 | 6/83 |
2009 | 57 | 26/30 | 23.41 | 7.48 | 50.85 | 2/68 |
2010 | 60 | 31/28 | 26.20 | 8.12 | 54.84 | 4/88 |
2011 | 74 | 32/40 | 26.01 | 7.72 | 54.29 | 6/89 |
The table below shows the performance of teams across different phases of the innings while batting first and chasing. The lower run-rate in the first six-over period in IPL 2011 clearly indicates a slightly more conservative approach. Apart from Bangalore, who had Chris Gayle in stunning form through the latter half of the tournament, no other team managed to dictate terms in the beginning of the innings consistently. In the middle-over period, the scoring rate has been lower than IPL 2008 and IPL 2010, but the average is much higher which points to the strategy of preserving wickets to help in accelerating in the end overs. In IPL 2011, chasing teams found the going better at the start of the innings, but did not manage to do as well in the middle and end of an innings. The run-rate in the end overs of the second innings (8.67) is second only to IPL 2008 (9.22), a season in which chasing teams have had the best record.
Season | 1-6(1st inns) | 7-14(1st inns) | 15-20(1st inns) | 1-6(2nd inns) | 7-14(2nd inns) | 15-20(2nd inns) |
2008 | 7.47, 29.91 | 7.46, 26.87 | 10.14, 18.50 | 7.92, 30.95 | 8.29, 38.11 | 9.22, 19.64 |
2009 | 7.33, 26.14 | 6.60, 28.57 | 9.16, 18.29 | 7.10, 26.62 | 6.83, 26.32 | 8.60, 18.73 |
2010 | 7.83, 28.48 | 7.41, 30.68 | 9.79, 23.07 | 7.95, 37.16 | 7.68, 26.50 | 8.54, 17.81 |
2011 | 6.98, 29.67 | 7.32, 35.36 | 9.28, 18.64 | 7.42, 29.97 | 7.28, 29.32 | 8.67, 19.76 |
Not only did Gayle make a mockery of the previous record for the most sixes hit in a season, he also ended up scoring more than 600 runs in 12 innings with two centuries and three fifties. In the matches he played, Gayle scored nearly 33% of the total team runs, and is on top of the list of batsmen with the highest percentage of team runs in IPL 2011 (top run getters for each team only). Virender Sehwag scored 24.48% of the runs for Delhi before an injury ended his run in the tournament. The eventual champions Chennai had many contributors, with Michael Hussey leading the way with 22.17% of the team runs. Shaun Marsh, who topped the runs tally for Punjab in IPL 2011 with 504 runs, scored 35.26% of the team runs in IPL 2008. Matthew Hayden and Sachin Tendulkar had the highest percentage of team runs in IPL 2009 and IPL 2010 with figures of 29.68% and 23.72% respectively.
Batsman | Team | Team runs* | Batsman runs | % of team runs |
Chris Gayle | Bangalore | 1863 | 608 | 32.64 |
Michael Hussey | Chennai | 2219 | 492 | 22.17 |
Sachin Tendulkar | Mumbai | 2288 | 553 | 24.17 |
Jacques Kallis | Kolkata | 2023 | 424 | 20.96 |
Shaun Marsh | Punjab | 2224 | 504 | 22.66 |
Brendon McCullum | Kochi | 1792 | 357 | 19.92 |
Rahul Dravid | Rajasthan | 1687 | 343 | 20.33 |
Shikhar Dhawan | Deccan | 2140 | 400 | 18.69 |
Virender Sehwag | Delhi | 1732 | 424 | 24.48 |
Yuvraj Singh | Pune | 1775 | 343 | 19.32 |
While the top six wickets in IPL 2008 and IPL 2010 scored at nearly eight runs per over throughout, the same was not true in the just-concluded edition. The top order scored slower than in previous seasons (with the exception of 2009), but maintained a good average. The first three wickets did, however, post more fifty-plus partnerships than they did in the previous years. The middle order had a much higher scoring-rate than the top order in IPL 2011, but the rate was still much lower than the two previous IPL seasons played in India.
Season | 1st wkt | 2nd wkt | 3rd wkt | 4th wkt | 5th wkt | 6th wkt |
2008 | 8.04, 32.41, 25 | 8.58, 32.85, 23 | 8.01, 29.15, 18 | 8.28, 28.61, 18 | 8.15, 24.04, 8 | 8.70, 20.03, 3 |
2009 | 7.52, 24.00, 21 | 7.24, 22.97, 15 | 7.25, 32.17, 25 | 7.64, 30.69, 18 | 7.99, 27.36, 14 | 7.61, 15.07, 1 |
2010 | 7.97, 30.54, 24 | 8.35, 31.93, 24 | 8.23, 28.70, 23 | 8.07, 29.12, 17 | 8.32, 31.46, 15 | 8.36, 18.62, 2 |
2011 | 7.97, 32.51, 34 | 7.63, 32.25, 31 | 7.29, 28.66, 21 | 7.73, 25.31, 18 | 8.03, 27.93, 10 | 8.14, 18.10, 1 |
While the role of pace bowlers has remained quite similar across all four seasons, the same is not true of the spinners. Spinners came to the fore in IPL 2009 in South Africa and were highly responsible for curtailing the scoring-rate in the middle of the innings. In 2011, fast bowlers averaged just over 28 at an economy-rate of 7.80 which made it their most successful year after IPL 2009, when they averaged just over 26 at an economy-rate of 7.65.
Season | Matches | Pace | Spin |
2008 | 58 | 445, 29.23, 8.09 | 134, 30.38, 8.19 |
2009 | 57 | 388, 26.25, 7.65 | 226, 24.77. 6.76 |
2010 | 60 | 405, 29.64, 8.32 | 210, 28.80, 7.34 |
2011 | 74 | 470, 28.12, 7.80 | 267, 27.66, 7.12 |