IPL 2018: Ranking the batting of each team in league stages
In the league stages of IPL, a total of 18,616 runs were scored of which 11,074 came from boundaries. Even before the completion of playoffs, the number of sixes hit this season is already a hundred more than last year.
While batsmen cleared the ropes 817 times in 56 matches, the fielding teams have scalped only 670 wickets. Such has been the dominance of the batsmen in the tournament so far.
While four teams, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Chennai Super Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals, have qualified for playoffs, the question which arises now is where do these teams stand in terms of their batting.
Here are the batting rankings for the eight teams after completion of league stages:
#8 Kings XI Punjab
KL Rahul was on fire for the Kings XI Punjab throughout the tournament. He scored runs quickly at the top and provided great starts to his team. But the Kings of Punjab were not able to make big totals in spite of those starts in the initial matches. But things seemed to have changed after the inclusion of Chris Gayle in the playing XI.
Gayle scored three half-centuries and a century in the tournament and Kings got a blazing start to the tournament as they have won five out their six matches. But once Gayle's form dipped the Punjab-based franchise could win only one of the remaining 8 matches.
KL Rahul batted his heart out in the tournament as he scored 659 runs i.e. nearly 30% of the team's runs. During the losing streak, he never got the support required from other batsmen.
The middle-order has been their area of concern throughout the tournament as the middle order batsmen kept on gifting wickets during the crucial phases and Rahul alone could take the side home.
They have the second lowest run-rate in the tournament and their runs-per-wicket ratio is also the second lowest making them the lowest ranked team.
Top performers with the bat:
1) KL Rahul: Total runs - 659, Innings:14, HS - 95*, SR:158.41, Avg: 54.91
2) Chris Gayle: Total runs - 368, Innings:11, HS - 104*, SR: 146.03, Avg: 40.88
3) Karun Nair: Total runs - 301, Innings:12, HS - 54, SR: 136.19, Avg: 25.08
Average Run Rate: 8.226
Runs per wicket: 23.763