Jarrod Kimber, Shayan Ahmad Khan
Let’s do a quick recap on team maps. 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 in that category.
We weigh the true values for batting and bowling according to the phase. For instance, taking a wicket in the 20th over is not as valuable as it is in the first over. A strike rate of 150 at the death is below par, while doing the same in the middle means you’re doing well even in a high-scoring season.
We’ve done reviews for Mumbai Indians and Punjab Kings – the first two teams that were eliminated in IPL 2024. Here’s a look at the other four teams who have missed out on a playoffs spot. The team maps are updated as of May 15, 2024, but we will have a look at the entire season for all teams.
Gujarat Titans
Sai Sudharsan went from scoring between 10 to 45 in the first eight innings of the season to scoring a hundred, two fifties and a single digit score in the last four. He finished the season with more than 500 runs at a strike rate of over 140. Shubman Gill had a good run too, scoring 426 runs at a strike rate of 147.
Their death overs batting was still above par, thanks to Rahul Tewatia and David Miller. They weren’t quite as good as the last two seasons, but they weren’t that bad. However, they were slightly below par with the bat in the first 16 overs of the innings.
Wriddhiman Saha was out of form, Sudharsan was not a quick starter, and even Gill finished with a strike rate of only 131 in the first six overs. Gill and Sudharsan actually did quite well in the middle overs, and Miller batted a little higher than he should. But the rest of the batters barely stayed in.
Despite losing Mohammed Shami, Gujarat were a plus team in the powerplay. Sandeep Warrier and Umesh Yadav took early wickets, even though they went for a few runs.
Only two bowlers took 10 or more wickets – Mohit Sharma and Rashid Khan. Mohit had a great start to the season, but that did not last very long. Rashid was far from his best this season, picking up only 10 wickets at an economy of 8.4.
Shami and Hardik Pandya’s absences certainly hurt them. They do have a good core they can build around. Among the Indian players there’s Gill, Shami and Sudharsan, and foremost among overseas options are Rashid and Miller.
Lucknow Super Giants
LSG were a plus team in only one out of six phases – middle overs batting. Nicholas Pooran and Marcus Stoinis were their most important batters between overs 7 to 16, and even KL Rahul’s strike rate was much better in the middle than in the powerplay.
They had four bowlers who took ten or more wickets – Naveen-ul-Haq, Yash Thakur, Ravi Bishnoi, and Mohsin Khan. But except Bishnoi, they all conceded more than 10 runs per over. The most exciting thing about their bowling (or even their whole team) was Mayank Yadav’s express pace.
Mayank played only four games, but had a big impact on two wins. Take him out, and Lucknow were pretty poor in the middle overs. Bishnoi took eight wickets at an average of 39, Krunal Pandya bowled 25 overs at an economy of under 7, and Naveen had figures of 6 for 92 in 11 overs in this phase. As a whole, they just weren’t able to take enough wickets or stop the flow of runs in the middle overs.
Their powerplay batting was the biggest problem. They kept losing wickets and did not score quickly either. Rahul actually had a good powerplay strike rate in the first half of the season, but that dropped from 154 in the first seven matches to 121 in the last seven. Quinton de Kock averaged slightly more than 17 in this phase.
They have a decent record in the league since their inception, qualifying for the playoffs twice and winning 50% of their games this season. It will be interesting to see who they look to retain with a possible mega auction looming ahead of the next season.
Delhi Capitals
Jake Fraser-McGurk’s inclusion played a big part in them going from 1/5 to 7/14. But we also have to remember that they did not have Harry Brook for the entire season, Mitchell Marsh was ruled out, and even Kuldeep Yadav missed a few games due to injury.
The two phases where Delhi were above par were death overs batting and middle overs bowling.
Tristan Stubbs scored at almost three runs a ball and was dismissed just once in the final four overs, while Rishabh Pant hit a boundary every 2.5 balls in that phase. With the ball, the spin duo of Kuldeep and Axar Patel did a brilliant job in the middle overs. Rasikh Salam and Mukesh Kumar were also strike bowling options.
DC are exactly at par with the bat in the powerplay on our metrics, despite Fraser-McGurk scoring at almost 2.5 runs a ball. Abishek Porel showed promise, but Prithvi Shaw and David Warner did not have a good season.
Pant was their most important batter in the middle overs, but even he took a bit of time at the start of the innings. However, no other Delhi batter averaged even 35 in the season in this ten-overs phase.
Khaleel Ahmed took a wicket once every 23 balls, while Ishant Sharma did so every 16 balls in the first six overs. They were the only two Delhi bowlers who bowled at least three overs and had an economy of under 10 in the powerplay. Not a single bowler who bowled at least two overs for Delhi conceded below ten runs per over in the final four.
Delhi have been unable to make the top four in each of the three seasons since the last mega auction. But you could argue that they weren’t that far off, winning seven games each in 2022 and 2024. Plus, Delhi actually have a strong Indian and overseas core of young players that they can build around for the future – Pant, Kuldeep, Axar, Fraser-McGurk and Stubbs.
Chennai Super Kings
Chennai were the best team to have not made the playoffs. They were a plus batting team in all phases, and also in the middle and death overs with the ball. In fact, they were two hits in five balls away from making it again after MS Dhoni hit the ball out of the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Ruturaj Gaikwad scored 583 runs at 141, and he was CSK’s best batter of the season. In the powerplay, he gave good starts for an anchor type batter. Rachin Ravindra gave a couple of quick starts, got a few low scores, and was eventually dropped and then brought back for the last two matches. Ajinkya ‘pace-hitter’ Rahane scored at over two runs a ball in the powerplay in 2023, but we did not quite see that version of him this year.
Shivam Dube had a huge impact in the middle overs. In fact, he was probably even one of the best batters of the season before he completely lost form in the last five innings.
Tushar Deshpande was brilliant (whisper it, but he is a nominee for the most improved player of the season) as an all-phase bowler. Also, Matheesha Pathirana and Mustafizur Rahman not playing the full season probably derailed CSK’s campaign a bit. They also did not have the services of Devon Conway for the entire season.
Chennai will probably look back at the Rajasthan Royals game last week and wonder whether they should have gone for the NRR push. They won five out of seven matches in Chepauk, but only two on the road.
Since the mega auction, CSK have finished ninth, won a title, and now finished fifth. It has not exactly been on brand with the consistency that we know them for. And there are still some questions to be answered. We still don’t know if this was MS Dhoni’s last season. They have a strong Indian contingent in Gaikwad, Ravindra Jadeja, Dube, and Deshpande. Simarjeet Singh has also looked like a serious talent in these few opportunities. When it comes to overseas options, they have Pathirana and Mustafizur.
