CHENNAI: When the two Sunrisers Hyderabad openers walked out to bat to chase Mumbai Indians’ 192/5, it signalled the start of the 50th innings of this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL). Out of all the patterns and sequences that’s been visible in the 16th instalment of the franchise league, the powerplay intent shown by batters has been front and centre. The fairly significant sample size — the current season is a third of the way in and all teams have played five games each — has produced a couple of telling numbers.
The powerplay Run Rate of 8.73 from 49 innings is the highest in the history of the league, eclipsing the previous best of 8.39 over a full campaign in 2018. After some of the worst powerplay batting performances in recent years (it may not even be comparable to other seasons as it was, by and large, played in the UAE or in neutral venues in India), 2023 has seen the top-order flexing their muscles in a way they have never done before.
This is reflected in the boundaries hit in the first six overs in the 49 innings. It stands at 8.12 per innings (an average of 1.66 sixes and 6.42 fours). It’s comfortably higher than the 6.99 in 2022 or in any of the preceding years (refer table). There are multiple reasons behind this. One is fairly obvious. The format has seen a plethora of specialist batting roles and one of the most evolved and well-developed of all batting roles is that of the powerplay hitter. Think of a Yashasvi Jaiswal or a Jos Buttler or even somebody like Virat Kohli.
The former India captain has frequently looked to clear the infield in this year’s edition, sometimes even at the expense of holding his shape. One only had to listen to Rohit Sharma after his first 50 of the season helped the franchise to a win over Delhi Capitals. “When I went to bat, I thought I need to make full use of the powerplay because as the game went on, I thought it is going to be tough with the couple of quality spinners they have. So it was there in my mind to keep attacking, take my chances in the first six overs, and then just see where the game is heading,” he had told in the post-match presentation ceremony.
Teams have quickly cottoned on to the fact that pairing one powerplay hitter with an anchor up top is the minimum requirement. Run your fingers through the rosters of all teams and you will see. For Lucknow, Kyle Mayers or Quinton de Kock is paired with KL Rahul. For Chennai, both Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway take it in turn. Likewise in Bangalore. For Punjab, Prabhsimran Singh is the basher while Shikhar Dhawan plays the waiting game. Wriddhiman Saha is a low-maintenance, high-reward option for Gujarat... this is not an exhaustive list.
Interestingly, the batting teams who have bucked this trend are in the lower reaches of the table. Delhi Capitals, whose run rate is almost an entire run lower than the average, is an example. Hyderabad is another side who have carried out-of-form players at the top. The result is a run rate of 7.16 across four innings. Their fifth one, against Mumbai Indians at home, didn’t bring them much joy. Chasing 193, they had limped and prodded their way to 42. Mumbai didn’t need a second invitation as they were on their way to winning a hat-trick of fixtures after beginning their campaign with two losses.
One of the reasons? Powerplay hitting. Over the last three games, Mumbai’s run rate in the first six overs stands at 10.72.
Brief scores: Mumbai 192/5 in 20 ovs (Rohit 28, Kishan 38, Green 64 n.o., Varma 37; Jansen 2/43) bt Hyderabad 178 in 19.5 ovs (Agarwal 48, Klassen 36; Meredith 2/33, Behrendorff 2/37, Chawla 2/43).