Analysis of individual and overall bowling performances across the four IPL seasons
S Rajesh and Madhusudhan Ramakrishnan10-Apr-2012Twenty20 cricket is thought to be a batsman-dominated game but, over four seasons of the IPL, the bowlers have held their own – and in many cases turned around games with match-winning spells. Lasith Malinga and Anil Kumble, the top bowlers in the overall and innings-wise lists, have proved themselves all over the world, but the lists below also include some less famous names who have grabbed the opportunity to mingle with the best.Take Amit Singh, a 30-year-old medium-pacer from Gujarat who has played only 18 first-class matches. Playing under Shane Warne for Rajasthan Royals, he turned in a bowling performance that comes up in third place, taking 3 for 9 against Kings XI Punjab in a matchwinning display.In the overall list, though, most of the names are high-quality ODI bowlers as well, which shows that they’ve adapted well to another form of limited-overs cricket. And for those who thought that 20-over cricket would favour one form of bowling over another, this study goes against that theory: there’s a fair mix of fast bowlers and spinners who’ve done well, with five of each in the top ten for both, the innings-wise and the overall lists.Key components of the bowling analysis- The economy rate of a bowler’s spell is weighted against the match run-rate. So, a bowler who bowls economically in a high-scoring match gets a higher score than one who achieves the same figures in a low-scoring game.Consider two performances: Rahul Sharma’s spell of 2 for 7 against Mumbai Indians, 2011 and Anil Kumble’s 5 for 5 against Rajasthan Royals, 2009. Rahul’s economy rate of 1.75 is slightly higher than Kumble’s 1.57 but, relative to his match run-rate (7.67), Rahul’s performance is better than Kumble’s because the overall run-rate in Kumble’s game was lower (5.43).- The wickets taken are weighted according to the batting position of the batsman dismissed. A bowler who takes top-order wickets thus gets a higher value than one who dismissed tailenders.- A bowler who doesn’t bowl his full quota of overs gets a slightly dampened rating (weighted according to the number of balls bowled), since it’s possible for bowlers, especially part-time ones, to get away with one or two inexpensive overs in which they take a few wickets. Bowling a full quota of four overs without conceding too many is far more difficult, and is hence recognised as such.Consider Laxmi Shukla’s spell of 3 for 6 in 0.5 overs v Delhi Daredevils, 2008 and Lasith Malinga’s 3 for 9 v Deccan Chargers, 2011. While Shukla bowled just five balls in the end and picked up three wickets, the bowling score is higher for Malinga who bowled his entire quota of overs.- As in the overall rating for batting, there’s a minimum number of bowling performances required for him to get a full rating in the overall rating for bowlers as well. For players who haven’t bowled in the required number of innings, their overall rating gets dampened. Just as with batting, the cut-off for the minimum number of innings is 20.Top ten bowling performances1. Rajasthan Royals were facing a target of just 134 on a difficult track in Cape Town. Kumble bowled 3.1 overs and picked up five wickets while conceding just five runs. Although it was a low-scoring match (match run-rate of 5.43), Kumble’s figures were still outstanding, even in the context of the relatively low scores.2. Mishra helped Deccan Chargers defend 198 with a superb spell of 4 for 9 off his four overs. His economy rate of 2.25 stood out in a game where the scoring rate was 8.05.3. After Rajasthan Royals set Kings XI Punjab a huge target of 212, Amit Singh produced an excellent spell of 3 for 9 at an economy rate of 2.25. In comparison, the match run-rate was 8.60. Another notable aspect of Singh’s performance was that all three of his wickets were top-six batsmen.4. Tanvir’s initial burst left Chennai Super Kings at 11 for 3 and he returned later to pick up the wickets of the top scorer Albie Morkel and the lower order. Tanvir’s haul of six wickets is the best in the IPL and helped set up a comfortable win for Rajasthan Royals.5. In a fairly high-scoring game, Rahul’s spell of 2 for 7 in four overs was exceptional. It is a top performance primarily because the match run-rate (7.67) is more than four times Rahul’s economy rate in the game (1.75). Added to that, both his wickets were of top-order batsmen.6. Malinga’s burst of three wickets including two top-order wickets set up Mumbai Indians’ 37-run win. His economy rate of 2.25 stood out in a match where the scoring rate was 7.67.7. In a high-scoring game (376 runs in 40 overs), Mishra’s spell of 5 for 17 helped Delhi Daredevils win by 12 runs. His economy rate of 4.25 was excellent in a game where the scoring rate was 9.40.8. Tanvir picked up two of the top three batsmen in his initial spell and reduced Royal Challengers Bangalore to 5 for 3 in their chase of a huge target of 198. In a game where the run-rate was 8.30, Tanvir’s economy rate was 2.50.9. After being restricted to just 129, Deccan Chargers fought back to win a low-scoring contest by 55 runs. Although Ishant’s economy rate of 4.00 in such a match (run-rate 5.53) does not stand out, his haul of five top-order wickets (all in the top six) gives him high overall score.10. Hodge picked up 4 for 13 to enable Kochi Tuskers bowl out Rajasthan Royals for 97 and chase down the 98-run target in just 7.3 overs. Hodge had an excellent economy rate of 3.25 in the match but the stand-out aspect is the fact that he picked up four wickets in a complete spell.
BowlerTeamOppositionSpellPointsAnil KumbleRoyal Challengers BangaloreRajasthan Royals5/571.80Amit MishraDeccan ChargersKings XI Punjab4/967.11Amit SinghRajasthan RoyalsKings XI Punjab3/966.04Sohail TanvirRajasthan RoyalsChennai Super Kings6/1464.89Rahul SharmaPune WarriorsMumbai Indians2/763.48Lasith MalingaMumbai IndiansDeccan Chargers3/961.52Amit MishraDelhi DaredevilsDeccan Chargers5/1760.32Sohail TanvirRajasthan RoyalsRoyal Challengers Bangalore3/1058.69Ishant SharmaDeccan ChargersKochi Tuskers5/1255.79Brad HodgeKochi TuskersRajasthan Royals4/1355.54S AravindRoyal Challengers BangaloreKings XI Punjab4/1455.53Harbhajan SinghMumbai IndiansDelhi Daredevils4/1755.09Munaf PatelMumbai IndiansKings XI Punjab5/2154.95Harbhajan SinghMumbai IndiansChennai Super Kings5/1854.80Sohail TanvirRajasthan RoyalsMumbai Indians4/1454.36Rohit SharmaDeccan ChargersMumbai Indians4/654.09Piyush ChawlaKings XI PunjabRoyal Challengers Bangalore4/1753.94Ashish NehraDelhi DaredevilsKings XI Punjab1/653.74Shaun PollockMumbai IndiansChennai Super Kings1/953.62Lasith MalingaMumbai IndiansDelhi Daredevils5/1353.47The overall bowling scoresLasith Malinga, who is on top of the overall list of IPL bowlers, has an excellent economy rate of 6.38 and has also managed to pick up 61 wickets in 42 matches (1.45 per match). Amit Mishra, who has the same number of wickets as Malinga, has a slightly higher economy rate and lower values of wickets-per-match (1.35).There are others, though, who haven’t been so prolific in terms of wickets but have superb economy rates. Rahul Sharma (21 wickets in 20 matches) and Harbhajan Singh (48 in 46) have only taken marginally more than one wicket per match, but both make it to the top 20 on the strength of excellent economy rates – 6.22 for Rahul Sharma and 6.76 for Harbhajan.
BowlerMatchesPointsLasith Malinga4225.33Amit Mishra4524.72R Ashwin3024.12Doug Bollinger2124.11Farveez Maharoof2023.37Anil Kumble4222.97Rahul Sharma2022.96Muttiah Muralitharan4522.56Ashish Nehra3122.25Dale Steyn4021.80Munaf Patel4521.69Daniel Vettori2521.47RP Singh5621.17Ryan Harris2920.99Harbhajan Singh4620.63Pragyan Ojha5420.48Dirk Nannes2420.47Irfan Pathan5620.43Shane Warne5520.07Zaheer Khan4619.99Click here to download the list of top 50 individual bowling performances and here to download the list of top 50 IPL bowlers.
