Matches (14)
IPL (2)
PSL (3)
Women's Tri-Series (SL) (1)
Women's One-Day Cup (1)
County DIV1 (3)
County DIV2 (4)
Stats Analysis

The Warne factor in the IPL

Spinners have had a huge role to play in IPL 2009, but one bowler hasn't quite made the impact you'd have expected in conditions in which many other, lesser bowlers have done extremely well

S Rajesh
S Rajesh
18-May-2009
Shane Warne flashes a thumbs-up sign after dismissing Venugopal Rao, Deccan Chargers v Rajasthan Royals, IPL, 40th match, Kimberley, May 11, 2009

Shane Warne has taken 14 wickets, but he has been overshadowed by a few other spinners in the IPL  •  Associated Press

Spinners have had a huge role to play in IPL 2009, but one bowler hasn't quite made the impact you'd have expected in conditions in which many other, lesser bowlers have done extremely well. Shane Warne has been an inspirational captain, no doubt, for Rajasthan Royals, plotting brilliantly with limited resources, and coaxing the best out of his young and inexperienced players. As a spinner, though, he has been overshadowed by others, many of whom have none of his experience or class.
With 14 wickets from 12 matches, only four bowlers have taken more in this competition, but Warne's wickets have been relatively expensive, at a relatively high economy rate, especially in the context of a tournament which have seen several low scores and several matchwinning performances by spinners.
Among spinners who have taken at least eight wickets, Warne's average is worse than all but two other bowlers, Harbhajan Singh and Piyush Chawla, while his economy rate of 7.41 is poorer than everyone else in the list. Some of that is also a function of how he bowls, tossing it up and inviting the batsmen to have a go, but on these slow pitches bowlers who've adopted a more defensive approach have had plenty of success as well. Rohit Sharma's 11 wickets have come at an average of 11.45 and an economy rate of 6.63, both of which are outstanding by Twenty20 standards. His bowling index (average multiplied by economy rate) is better than anyone else's among those in the list below.
Next in the list is Shadab Jakati, Chennai Super King's left-arm spinner who has taken 103 wickets in 41 first-class matches at an average of 36.38. Anil Kumble and Muttiah Muralitharan are in the top five, but so is Pragyan Ojha, a bowler who has played only nine ODIs for India.
Spinners in the IPL (Qual: 8 wickets)
Bowler Wickets Average Econ rate Ave x Runs per ball
Rohit Sharma 11 11.45 6.63 12.65
Shadab Jakati 11 13.81 7.23 16.64
Anil Kumble 13 19.53 5.88 19.14
Pragyan Ojha 13 20.07 6.14 20.54
Muttiah Muralitharan 10 22.20 5.84 21.61
Amit Mishra 11 21.18 6.81 24.04
Harbhajan Singh 8 29.87 5.97 29.72
Shane Warne 14 24.35 7.41 30.07
Piyush Chawla 11 26.81 6.88 30.74
Warne has hardly bowled during the Powerplay overs in this IPL, keeping himself mostly for the eight middle overs. He hasn't taken too many wickets during this period, but that's also because most batsmen would prefer to play him off and look to take more risks against other bowlers. In the last six he has gone at nine an over, but has also taken more wickets.
Warne at each stage of the innings in the IPL
  Balls Runs Wickets Average Economy rate
First six overs 6 3 1 3.00 3.00
Middle eight overs 180 205 6 34.16 6.83
Last six overs 90 133 7 19.00 8.86
As you'd expect, Warne has had more problems keeping the left-handers in check than the right-handers. With the stock ball coming in to them, the left-hand batsmen have had it much easier against Warne, getting him away for 136 runs from 96 deliveries and losing their wickets to him only five times. Against right-handers, on the other hand, Warne has kept it much tighter, and struck more often as well.
Warne versus right and left-hand batsmen
  Balls Runs Wickets Average Econ rate
Right-hand batsmen 180 189 9 21.00 6.30
Left-hand batsmen 96 136 5 27.20 8.50
The table below further illustrates the point: among the six batsmen who've played ten or more deliveries from him in this IPL and scored at eight or more per over, five are left-handers. Irfan Pathan, Suresh Raina, Matthew Hayden, Yuvraj Singh and Kumar Sangakkara have all been pretty successful against Warne, while Andrew Symonds is the only right-hander who has dominated Warne. On the other hand, S Badrinath and Virat Kohli have utterly struggled against him. Sachin Tendulkar had a memorable battle against him, but Warne clearly won that won, conceding eight runs from as many balls and dismissing him once.
How the batsmen have fared against Warne in the IPL
Batsman Balls Runs Dismissals Average Run rate
AB de Villiers 22 27 1 27.00 7.36
Irfan Pathan 17 25 1 25.00 8.82
S Badrinath 15 8 1 8.00 3.20
Virat Kohli 14 8 1 8.00 3.42
Suresh Raina 13 18 0 - 8.30
Yuvraj Singh 12 26 0 - 13.00
Matthew Hayden 11 16 1 16.00 8.72
Rahul Dravid 10 10 0 - 6.00
Kumar Sangakkara 10 17 0 - 10.20
Andrew Symonds 10 21 0 - 12.60
Symonds makes his mark
A few Australians have joined the IPL after their series against Pakistan, but the one who has undoubtedly shone brighter than the others is Symonds. In four innings he has scored 174 runs at an impressive average and an outstanding strike rate. Symonds is quickly moving up the run-getters' chart, and his strike rate means his batting factor (average x strike rate) has been bettered only by four batsmen (among those with at least 150 runs). In the top 15 there are four Australians, which is a pretty healthy percentage. Only India have as many players, while South Africa have three.
Batsmen with highest Runs x Strike rate factor in the IPL (Qual: 150 runs)
Batsman Runs Balls Average Strike rate Ave x SR/100
AB de Villiers 405 299 67.50 135.45 91.43
Matthew Hayden 546 376 54.60 145.21 79.28
Morne van Vyk 167 132 55.67 126.51 70.42
Andrew Symonds 174 115 43.50 151.30 65.82
Dinesh Karthik 248 179 41.33 138.54 57.26
MS Dhoni 262 201 43.66 130.34 56.91
JP Duminy 363 319 45.37 113.79 51.63
Tillakaratne Dilshan 329 276 41.12 119.20 49.02
Mahela Jayawardene 219 165 36.50 132.72 48.44
Ross Taylor 210 160 35.00 131.25 45.94
Suresh Raina 342 232 31.09 147.41 45.83
Adam Gilchrist 395 269 30.38 146.84 44.61
Dwayne Smith 215 132 26.87 162.87 43.76
Brad Hodge 288 258 36.00 111.62 40.18
Sachin Tendulkar 318 262 31.80 121.37 38.60
All stats updated till the 50th match of the IPL, which finished on Sunday, May 17.

S Rajesh is stats editor of Cricinfo