IPL 2020: A Brief Recap of the Tournament’s History

Cricket fans all over the world were overjoyed when BCCI announced in July that the IPL would indeed be played in September 2020, amid the raging coronavirus pandemic. The Indian domestic T20 tournament will now be held in Dubai instead, as coronavirus cases continue to rise in India. BCCI has gone to great lengths to ensure that the health of the players, staff, and other crew members is well taken care of and they stay miles away from the virus. The creation of Bio-bubbles and extensive testing has made the distant dream of IPL T20 seem like a reality now.

It has been the most popular and glamorous franchise T20 tournament since its launch in 2008 and has seen players pocketing huge sums of money to play 45 days of IPL Fantasy cricket. With so much riding on the players in terms of money, they are bound to stretch themselves and produce scintillating cricket in the process. The format is designed to aid explosive batting and tight finishes, ensuring that records are broken left, right and centre, with IPL news every year dominating cricket played elsewhere in the world for its duration.

Since the IPL 2020 schedule has already been announced, this is a good time to recall some of the records created and broken in previous editions of the IPL. Usually, IPL matches witness a close contest between the bat and ball, thus creating situations where even teams carefully scrutinize stats to try and gauge where they lack in order to prepare better.

Mumbai Indians has been the most dominating side in the IPL with 4 title wins and 107 match wins, followed by Chennai Super Kings who’ve won the 3 trophies and 100 matches.

The most closely watched IPL statistic after the IPL points table, which is mostly dominated by Chennai Super Kings or Mumbai Indians, is probably the highest scorer in a particular edition as well as across IPL’s history. Therefore, let’s take a look at the batters and their records:

1. The achievement of making the most runs in IPL since its inception is held by Virat Kohli, who has scored a total of 5412 runs in 177 matches. Suresh Raina occupies the second position by scoring 5368 runs in 193 matches.
2. Chris Gayle holds the distinction of hitting the most centuries in IPL’s history. He has 6 centuries to his name in 125 matches, followed by Virat Kohli who has 5.
3. Chris Gayle again holds the record of hitting the most sixes. He has hit 326 sixes, followed by AB De Villiers, who is way behind on the second position with 212 sixes in 154 matches.
4. KL Rahul has hit the fastest fifty in IPL’s history. He hit a fifty off 14 balls against DC in Mohali in the 2018 edition.
5. The explosive Chris Gayle holds the record for the fastest hundred, which he scored off 30 balls in 2013 in Bangalore.
6. Virat Kohli holds the record of scoring the most runs in a single season of IPL as well. He scored 973 runs in the 2016 edition, followed by David Warner in second place who scored 848 runs in the same edition.
7. Jonny Bairstow boasts of the highest average in the IPL, his 55.62 in 10 matches completely overshadowing Adam Voges’ 45.25 in 7 matches.
8. Andre Russel’s strike rate of 186.41 in 64 matches tops the charts, followed by Sunil Narine, who too has a pretty decent strike rate of 168.34 to show against his name.

As is evident from above, batting IPL stats and records are incomplete without Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli, who’ve been two of the most consistent batsmen since the tournament’s inception.

Now, bowlers are generally taken to the cleaners by the batsmen in this format, but they too have ample opportunities to attack and shake up their opponents’ batting order with some smart and lethal bowling. Let’s have a look at some of the records the bowlers hold in the IPL:

1. Lasith Malinga is the highest wicket-taker in the IPL with 170 scalps in 122 matches at an average of 19.8, followed by Amit Mishra, who has bagged 157 wickets in 147 matches at an average of 24.19.
2. Alzarri Joseph has the best bowling figures in a match with 6/12 in 3.4 overs at an economy of 3.66. Two other players, viz., Sohail Tanvir and Adam Zampa have also taken 6 wickets apiece in a match.
3. Rashid Khan has proven to be the most economical bowler in the IPL, with an economy rate of 6.55 in 46 matches, conceding 1193 runs.
4. Praveen Kumar has bowled 14 maiden overs, the most in IPL history. Irfan Pathan closely follows him with 10 maidens.
5. Harbhajan Singh has bowled the most dot balls in the tournament, with an aggregate of 1249 dots in 160 matches. Lasith Malinga occupies the second position with 1155 dot balls.
6. Sunil Narine has taken 4 wickets in an innings six times in 110 matches. Lasith Malinga has also taken 4 wickets in an innings six times but has done it across 122 matches.
7. Kagiso Rabada has the best strike rate of all in the IPL; his figure of 13.22 comfortably bettering second-placed Chris Woakes’ 14.96.
8. Amit Mishra’s three hat-tricks is the most by a bowler, followed surprisingly by the part-time prowess of Yuvraj Singh, who has two hat-tricks to his credit.

As far as wicket-keeping is concerned, it is no surprise that Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni tops this list with 132 dismissals in 184 matches. But Dinesh Kartik isn’t far behind, with 131 dismissals in 167 matches. IPL 2020 stats would be interesting to track just to keep an eye on their competition.

With so many records up for being broken, the players will be hoping to light the IPL scorecard on fire this season. Witnessing this intense competition will be a welcoming change for cricket fans in these gloomy times. Here’s hoping the IPL commences and concludes without any hiccups and manages to entertain as much as it has in the previous editions.

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