Fastest starters, stingy bowlers and big hitters: What data tells us so far in IPL 2018

A third of the way into IPL 2018, ESPNcricinfo looks at who has fared the best, and who hasn't, with a combination of conventional and T20-specific stats.

Whose yorker has been the most effective?

After at least five games played by each side, Trent Boult has landed the most yorkers (10) and taken the most wickets with them (2). The other usual specialists make it to the top five, but only Jofra Archer has a perfect success rate - two wickets with two yorkers against Mumbai Indians.

No batsman has had to face more yorkers than Dwayne Bravo (8), and the effectiveness of the perfect yorker shows in his strike rate of less than 100. Chris Gayle is the only other batsman who has been targeted with more than five yorkers (6), and he has managed just three runs off them.

Fastest and slowest starters: a few surprises

KL Rahul's lightning-quick starts have helped Kings XI Punjab set the standard in Powerplays, while Ambati Rayudu's first-ten ball strike rate of 170.8 puts him in elite company.

Jason Roy, Kieron Pollard and D'Arcy Short are surprise names among the five slowest starters, and they have contributed to their team's ineffectiveness in the phases they batted in. Roy had two middling knocks after that match-winning 92 not out against Mumbai; Short has already been dropped by Rajasthan Royals, while Pollard's Mumbai Indians have struggled to get going in the later stages of their innings.

Unstoppable forces and immovable objects

That Andre Russell blitzes the death overs is well known, and he has hit a boundary every 2.95 balls so far, going at an overall strike rate of nearly 230. Rahul is up there once again, despite a boundary-hitting method vastly different from the Jamaican's, while pinch-hitting opener Sunil Narine has done his job with a boundary once in less than four balls in the Powerplay.

Spinners dominate the list of the most frugal boundary-conceders, with Krunal Pandya up there with a boundary conceded every ten balls. That's just a little more than two for every four-over spell, an astounding rate in T20 cricket. Delhi Daredevils wristspinner Rahul Tewatia, one of their few bright spots so far, is second best, conceding a boundary only every nine balls.

Dot-ball percentages: two ways to Powerplay success

A cursory look at batsmen's dot-ball stats and strike rates in the Powerplay tells a story: playing several dots is okay if you can hit boundaries frequently. Sanju Samson, a more conventional player, is among the top strike-rotators in the first six overs, while a big hitter like Evin Lewis makes up with his six-hitting for playing out dots for over 50% of his deliveries. The stand-out case is once again Short, who has struggled to get going in Indian conditions so far in his debut IPL season.