Smart Stats - Why Hardik was better than Russell
The Eden Gardens saw two breathtaking innings but the better one actually ended up on the losing side
ESPNcricinfo Stats Team
28-Apr-2019
Andre Russell was once again the star for Kolkata Knight Riders. Not only did he end their six-match losing streak in this IPL, he ended an eight-match losing streak against Mumbai Indians dating back to 2015.
Russell began his night scoring a blistering 80 off 40 balls to push them to a total of 232 and ended it as the team's most impactful bowler. He had the highest strike-rate among KKR batsmen as well as was the best economy rate among their bowlers. His Smart Strike rate was 282.50 and Smart Economy was 4.50.
Smart Stats calculates the impact of a player, both as a batsman and bowler, and credits impact points to them. Russell's batting impact points were 121.4 and bowling 66.
His total impact points - 187.4 - account for 46.5% of the total impact points generated by the KKR players as a whole. Thus, Russell's contribution to KKR's victory was 46.5%. The next best were Chris Lynn's 16.20% and Shubman Gill's 16.1%.
Hardik Pandya outclasses Russell
Hardik Pandya's 91 off 34 may have ended up in a losing cause, but Smart Stats says it was the best innings of the match.
Hardik's Smart Strike rate was a whopping 400 compared to Russell's 282.50. Hardik's Smart Runs were 136 while those of Russell's 113. Hardik's batting impact points were 187 to that of Russell's 121.4.
| Batsman | Smart Runs | Smart SR | Inns run rate at arrival | Batsman's SR | SR of batsmen at other end |
| Andre Russell | 113 | 282.50 | 10.10 | 200.00 (80/40) | 204.16 (49/24) |
| Hardik Pandya | 136 | 400.00 | 6.96 | 267.64 (91/34) | 129.16 (31/24) |
This is because Smart Stats considers the situation of the match and the scoring rate of the batsmen at the other end.
When Hardik came in at No. 6, Mumbai's run-rate was 6.96 and the required rate was 15 per over. At Russell's arrival, KKR's run-rate was 10.10. The batsmen at the other end when Russell was batting scored 49 runs off 24 balls, a strike-rate similar to Russell's own on the night. But in Hardik's case, the other batsmen at the crease scored 31 off 24, a strike rate of 129.16, whereas he was scoring at 267.64. Thus, Smart Stats illustrates how Hardik outclassed Russell, but was unfortunate to be on the losing side.