More runs and wickets than ever before

The IPL this year had one more match than in the first two editions (for the third place), but in terms of runs and wickets, the stats for this year were way ahead: the aggregate of 18,864 runs is 993 runs more than the tally in 2008, while 23 more wickets fell this year than in 2009. That's mainly because, unlike in the last two years, not a single game was rained out or shortened: the closest we came to a disruption was the bomb blast in Bangalore, despite which a full 20-over game was played that day.

The run rate, though, dropped slightly this year compared to 2008, but it was still much more than the 2009 edition which was moved to South Africa. The marginal drop in run rate was largely due to the slower pitches and more difficult batting conditions in the last two weeks. In the first 41 matches of the IPL, teams scored at an average run rate of 8.40 runs per over; in the last 19 games, it dropped significantly to 7.50. That was also the reason why the sixes tally fell short of 600 this year - there were only 159 of them in the last 19 matches an average of 8.37 per game; in the first 41 games, the average was 10.39 per match.

Mumbai Indians were the dominant team throughout the IPL, and their domination is reflected in their stats: the difference between their batting run rate and bowling economy rate is 0.80, which is the highest of all teams. Chennai Super Kings improved their numbers considerably towards the end of the tournament, which is why the difference in their rates is a respectable 0.39 despite winning only nine out of 16 matches. Royal Challengers Bangalore are the only other team with a difference of more than 0.20, but the stats for the fourth semi-finalist, Deccan Chargers, is quite poor. They finished with a difference of -0.41, some of which was due to their meek finish to the tournament, when they were walloped by Bangalore in the third-place playoff.

The two teams with the worst difference are Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab, the sides which finished at the bottom of the table. What's more surprising, though, is that their numbers are that much poorer than Deccan's.

The overall Powerplay stats in 2010 were a touch better than those in 2008 - the run rate was marginally higher, at 7.89. That's thanks largely to Delhi Daredevils (run rate 8.53), Mumbai (8.35), and Punjab (8.02), the only teams with a rate of more than eight.

In the middle overs teams were slightly slower than in 2008, with Rajasthan (8.13) the only team to manage a run rate of more than eight. Surprisingly Mumbai (7.14) and Delhi (7.16) were the teams with the slowest run rates.

The last six overs too saw a marginal drop in scoring rate compared to 2008 (though they were all higher than the 2009 numbers). Mumbai were the standout team, scoring at 10.97 runs per over, while Bangalore (9.74) and Chennai (9.68) were the others to score at more than nine-and-a-half.

The presence of Doug Bollinger, and the decision to open the attack with him and R Ashwin, made a huge difference to Chennai's fortunes. They had won only three out of eight games till then, but won six out of eight after he came in. The biggest difference was in their bowling in the first six overs: in the first eight matches they were clueless, neither taking wickets nor keeping runs in check - they economy rate of 8.39 was the second-worst at that point.

Once Bollinger and Ashwin took the new ball, though, Chennai's fortunes changes completely, and they became the best bowling team in the Powerplays, taking 13 wickets at an excellent economy rate of 6.35.

Both bowlers were equally effective in the first six, which allowed Chennai to choke the runs and force batsmen into errors. Ashwin and Bollinger both managed economy rates of less than five, which is exceptional in this format.

The table below shows the top batsmen in the powerplay overs in IPL 2010. Sachin Tendulkar, who was the top run getter in the tournament, amassed more than 300 runs at an exceptional average. Virender Sehwag scored at the quickest rate while Adam Gilchrist, who otherwise had a poor IPL, hit the most sixes.

Highest run-scorers in Powerplay overs in IPL 2010

Batsman	Runs scored	Strike rate	Average	4s	6s
Sachin Tendulkar	327	8.24	109.00	55	0
Jacques Kallis	274	6.68	45.66	42	3
Adam Gilchrist	249	9.22	19.15	29	13
M Vijay	241	8.65	48.20	23	11
Virender Sehwag	240	9.35	26.66	38	7
Matthew Hayden	237	6.93	23.70	30	9
Michael Lumb	225	8.88	45.00	37	5
Sourav Ganguly	219	6.73	73.00	35	5
Naman Ojha	208	7.47	26.00	30	5

Chaminda Vaas was extremely economical and also picked up eight wickets during the Powerplays. The other revelations were Bollinger and Ashwin, who played crucial roles in Chennai's success.

Keiron Pollard scored the most runs in the last six overs, at an average of more than 13 per over. In terms of strike rate, though, he was pipped to the post by Robin Uthappa, who had a strike rate of nearly 14 runs per over.

Among the bowlers Anil Kumble was outstanding with an economy rate of 6.36, which was one run better than his nearest competitor, Lasith Malinga of Mumbai. Dale Steyn and Muttiah Muralitharan were impressive too, but Zaheer Khan was the only bowler to take ten wickets during the last six overs.

97 - The number of sixes struck by Chennai, the highest in the tournament. Deccan and Bangalore conceded the most sixes - 85 each.
27 - The number of sixes struck by Robin Uthappa, which is one more than Murali Vijay's tally. Pragyan Ojha conceded the highest number of sixes - 17.
23 - The number of run-outs effected by Delhi, the highest in the tournament and one more than Chennai. Rajasthan's batsmen were run out most often - 34 times.
72 - The number of wides bowled by Bangalore, which is the highest. The two bowlers leading in this regard are also from Bangalore - Steyn (28) and Praveen (18).
185.71 - Kieron Pollard's strike rate, which is the highest among batsmen who've scored more than 100 runs. Uthappa is next at 171.55.