Jarrod Kimber, Shayan Ahmad Khan
It’s exit interview time. Teams are leaving the IPL early, what happened, and what goes on next.
So we have taken a look at two of the teams are heading off.
We use team maps to determine how a side performed in each game phase compared to the rest. The ratios tell us how much better or worse they are than normal. A value of 1 means they’re par. The higher it is, the better they are for that category. The true values for batting and bowling have been weighed accordingly in different phases. For instance, taking a wicket in the first over is much more valuable than that in the 20th. Striking at 150 in the middle overs is pretty good, while doing the same at the death is below par.
We start with the two teams that have been eliminated so far.
Mumbai Indians
Jasprit Bumrah has had an otherworldly season. MI have had the luxury of having him bowl a good chunk of overs at the death. Gerald Coetzee has also supported him well at the end of the innings. Their middle overs batting has been the other main highlight, thanks to Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma. Nehal Wadhera has also continued to show promise.
Hardik Pandya’s form played a massive part in Mumbai not having a good season. Their worst phase with the bat was the death overs. Tim David did not create much of a difference either. Romario Shepherd made 32 runs in the 20th over of a match, but only got to play another two innings after that.
Even Rohit Sharma, who had a good start to the season, failed to get going in the second half. He was getting the side off to good starts in the powerplay, but the dip in his performances meant that MI ended up being below par in this phase after 12 games. Ishan Kishan also scored quickly in the powerplay, but he was not really among the runs on a consistent basis.
MI were also below par with the ball in the first 16 overs of the innings. Their only bowler, apart from Bumrah, who took at least 10 wickets at an economy of under 10 was Piyush Chawla. Their other Indian spinners were Shreyas Gopal and Shams Mulani, neither of whom got a long run in the side. Mohammad Nabi bowled 12.2 overs in seven matches.
It’s not that they do not have the players. In theory, they still have the best bowler, batter and all-rounder in India in T20s. Tilak has been a consistent performer for them in this mega auction cycle (2022-24), so MI should try to retain or buy him back in the auction depending upon the rules. They probably need to take a call on Rohit, who has not performed well in the IPL since 2017 – averaging 25 at a strike rate of 129 — and is 37 years old.
What about Kishan? He’s clearly a player they seem to have invested in for the long run. If the retention rules allow for five players at least, Kishan is likely to continue with MI. They also have a terrific strike bowling option in Coetzee, but he’s still learning to ply his trade and is not quite the finished article. Nuwan Thushara is another exciting fast-bowling talent.
Punjab Kings
Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma have been their finds of the season. Both players have done an excellent job, particularly in the death overs. Harshal Patel has picked up 20 wickets at an economy of 9.75, and he has actually kept the flow of runs in control in the second half of the season. Kagiso Rabada, Sam Curran, and Arshdeep Singh have also been among the wickets, but the latter two have conceded more than 10 runs per over.
However, they are not a plus bowling team in any phase. They do not concede a lot of runs in the powerplay, but they do not take many wickets either. In the middle, Rahul Chahar and Harshal are strike bowlers, while Harpreet Brar keeps it tight. They take a bunch of wickets at the death, but also go for runs. Basically, they are unable to do both at the same time in any phase of the innings.
Prabhsimran Singh and Jonny Bairstow scored at a decent clip in the powerplay, but neither of the two have scored runs consistently enough for a top-order batter. Jitesh Sharma, Liam Livingstone and Curran’s poor form with the bat made them a below par batting unit in the middle overs.
They have a pretty solid Indian core that they could build around – Shashank, Ashutosh, Harshal, Arshdeep, Brar and Jitesh. Livingstone did not have a good season this time, but he fared quite well in the previous two. It makes sense to keep Rabada around because of his ability to bowl in all phases of the innings.
There certainly needs to be more clarity on Curran’s role if they want him to stick around before a possible mega auction. Also, what about Shikhar Dhawan? He played five games this season, then sat out with injury but was seen in the team dugout. For the last few games, he hasn’t even been with the team. He turned 38 during this IPL, so perhaps Punjab will not be that keen to retain him ahead of the next mega auction cycle.
True stats as of May 9, 2024 by Varun Alvakonda
