In numbers - IPL 2025 gets off to turbo-charged start

The overall run rate in the first five matches has gone up by 17%, but the numbers that really jump out at you are those of boundary count and boundary intent.

There has been a 37% increase in the number of sixes, while the count of fours is up by more than 34%.

A whopping 32 more sixes have been struck so far this season - 119 vs 87. In fact, the most sixes in any previous season after five matches was 88 in IPL 2023. The sixes count this year after four games was already 87, while 146 fours were struck, ten more than in the first five games last season.

Batters have found the boundary more often because they are also looking for them more often: the percentage of boundary-intent shots has gone up by 66%.

Last year, only two team totals in the first five games exceeded 200, both at Eden Gardens when Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) played Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), and neither of them exceeded 210. This season, six out of ten innings have exceeded 200, with five exceeding 210 and three going past 240. There were 11 scores of 240 or more last season, but the first of those didn't arrive till the eighth game, when SRH played Mumbai Indians (MI).

In ten innings so far this season, there have been eight scores of 60 or more in the powerplay, including a highest of 94 by SRH against Rajasthan Royals (RR). The lowest so far this season is 52, by MI against Chennai Super Kings (CSK). In 2024, the highest after five matches was just 65; there are five higher powerplay scores already in 2025.

The overall powerplay run rate has jumped by almost 30%, which is the highest among the three phases. The middle overs have gone up significantly, too, by almost 17%, with four instances of 100-plus runs in this phase, including the highest of 125 by SRH versus RR. In 2024, the maximum runs scored in the middle overs in the first ten innings was 98.

The death overs have seen a relatively smaller change of just 5%, though the highest here - 77 by Punjab Kings (PBKS) against Gujarat Titans (GT) - is higher than the maximum last year - 71 by SRH versus KKR.

There have been 13 instances of batters going at a strike rate of 200 or more when facing 15 or more balls, from Ishan Kishan's unbeaten 106 off 47, to Vipraj Nigam's 15-ball 39. Last year after five games, there were only four such innings.

Similarly, overs yielding 20 or more runs have become commonplace. There have already been 20, compared with just eight after five games last year. The highest this year is 28, when Tristan Stubbs was taken to the cleaners by Pooran. Three other bowlers, Simarjeet Singh, Nigam and Prasidh Krishna, have leaked 24 or more in an over. Last year, there were only eight such overs, the highest being 26.