32 wickets CASTLE KING
Not many would have guessed that the first two names on the Purple Cap list would be Dwayne Bravo and James Faulkner. Bravo's 32 wickets came at a cost as his economy rate was 7.95. Faulkner was excellent throughout the tournament, taking 28 wickets in 16 matches including two 5-wicket hauls against Sunrisers.
FULL HOUSE
Cricket made the front page for a whole week, and for all the wrong reasons. despite that, the playoff matches and the final itself were played in front of excellent crowds.
CSK'S DISAPPOINTING BATTING IN FINAL
Chennai Super Kings seem to have been affected by the controversy surrounding Team Principal Gurunath Meiyappan and owner N Srinivasan. Chasing 148, they lost 5 wickets early and were never in the contest after that. Quite a few batsmen threw their wickets away.
HIT MACHINE
No real surprises at the top of the list of run scorers. Though Hussey won the Orange Cap with 733 runs, Gayle was not far behind with 708. RCB's Kohli got 634, while Raina overcame a bad start to the season to get 548 runs.
CAPTAINS' CALL
Sunrisers' Kumar Sangakkara and Mumbai's Ricky Ponting dropped themselves midway through the IPL and their teams flourished under new captains as they sailed to the playoffs. Mumbai, in fact, won the whole tournament.
CATCHES FIRE
There have been lots of outstanding catches in this IPL: Gurkeerat Singh's fantastic diving catch in the deep, Pollard's catches on the boundary line and Ponting's brilliant one-handed catch among others.
TIME TO SAY GOODBYE SACHIN TENDULKAR
Sachin Tendulkar announced during Mumbai's victory celebrations after the final that he wouldn't be playing in the IPL again. His performance in this IPL? -- not great at all! He managed just one fifty as he scratched his way to 287 runs at 22.07 in 14 matches.
SMALL TOWNS LARGE turnout
Kings XI Punjab have played in Dharmashala for a few years now. There were two new grounds used this year -- Delhi's second home ground at Raipur, and Kolkata's second home ground at Ranchi. Both grounds saw fans flock in to support their 'home' teams.
WATSON, MASTER OF ALL TRADES
Shane Watson was one of the main reasons for Rajasthan's march into the playoffs. Watson justified his salary by taking 13 wickets in addition to 543 runs at 38.78, along with 6 catches.
GAYLE'S DAY OUT
Chris Gayle produced the innings of the tournament against Pune Warriors. Gayle tore into all the Pune bowlers, getting an unbeaten 175 off just 66 balls.
fresh blood
The IPL always brings some exciting young players into the limelight. This year was no exception. Sanju Samson and Hanuma Vihari have bright futures ahead of them. Leggie Karan Sharma has impressed for Sunrisers while Mohit Sharma was a real find for CSK.
having a ball!
Wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist decided to pull off his pads and bowl the last over of the last match of his IPL career against Mumbai, getting Praveen Kumar to keep in his place. He only got to bowl one ball though as Harbhajan Singh lofted the ball straight to long on to finish the Mumbai innings.
