CHENNAI: In the last seven Indian Premier League editions till 2019, Mayank Agarwal had finished in the top 25 run-scorers zero times. His best was 26th in 2019. Till then, it read like this: 50th in 2018, 84th in 2017, 87th in 2016, 32nd in 2015, 54th in 2014 and 78th in 2013.
In 2020? Third with 398 runs. The main difference between this year and some of the above-mentioned ones is Agarwal has been opening the batting and, thus, has more chances to express his talent. But Agarwal’s place in the top-scorers chart is indicative of a wider trend in the IPL so far — Indians are dominating it at a rate not seen in the competition’s history.
As of this point, five of the top six are from India, with the top three all Indian openers in one format or another. KL Rahul leads the way followed by Shikhar Dhawan and Agarwal. Faf du Plessis breaks up the monopoly before Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer round up the top six.
Why is it like this this year? J Arun Kumar, who has previously been the batting coach of Punjab, says it’s down to good batting wickets and a plethora of Indian choices at the top of the order for all IPL sides, with all of them in good form.
There is also intense competition of places with two T20 World Cups in as many years. "When you go through all the franchises, there are high quality Indian options at the top of the order," he says.
"All of them are in good form at the same time and are using the batting wickets to perfection." There is more than a grain of truth in that assessment.
While Dhawan has four straight 50s to his name, Rahul became the first Indian to score 500 or more in three consecutive editions. More specifically with respect to Rahul and Agarwal, Arun Kumar says it’s to do with increased confidence and added responsibility, respectively.
"Mayank is playing more freely in this IPL," he says. "It’s likely to do with confidence because he is part of the Test team, has played well and is an important part of the India team. It's a case of using that confidence and developing himself has a player in a different format. But I’m not surprised because he has always had it in him." With Rahul, it’s more a case of him accepting that responsibility of being a captain.
Royal Challengers Bangalore has often been criticised for their bowling performance in the past. But this IPL, bowlers have done most of the things right. On Wednesday, Mohammed Siraj broke Kolkata Knight Riders’ back with his opening spell of 3-2-2-3 in Abu Dhabi. Kolkata managed 84/8 in 20 overs with Yuzvendra Chahal scalping two. Skipper Eoin Morgan scored a 34-ball 30. Bangalore chased it down in 13.3 overs.