Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021: Statistical Preview

The biggest T20 extravaganza of the world i.e. Indian Premier League is all set to begin on 9th April 2021. The inaugural match of the season will be played between Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. This year, all the teams will play at neutral venues owing to the COVID pandemic.

Defending champions Mumbai Indians are among the favourites to win the tournament once again. Sanju Samson and Rishabh Pant will be the two new captains this year, while Eoin Morgan will be leading the KKR team after being made the skipper midseason last year.

Let’s look at key numbers and stats ahead of the 14th season of the Indian Premier League:

5 – Rishabh Pant, the Delhi Capitals skipper, is all set to become the fifth-youngest captain in IPL history. Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, Suresh Raina, and Shreyas Iyer became skippers at a lower age than Pant.

5 – SRH is the only team that have qualified for the playoffs in each of the last 5 seasons. They were the title winners in 2016 and runners-up in 2018.

2014 – The last time Punjab Kings qualified for playoffs was back in 2014 when they lost the final against Kolkata Knight Riders.

6000  – This season, a lot of superstars including Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, David Warner and Rohit Sharma will be in a race to breach the 6000-run mark. Virat Kohli is the front-runner in this case with the highest rank in the record tally.

8 – Virat Kohli has played 192 IPL matches so far. He will become the first player to feature in 200 IPL games for the same team. MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma are the other players who have been part of 200 IPL games, but both of them have played for two different teams in the process.

349 – Chris Gayle has hit the most sixes (349) in the IPL history. He is all set to become the first player to complete 350 IPL sixes.

591– The record for most sixes in IPL belongs to Shikhar Dhawan who has hit 591 fours in his IPL career. He will have a chance to become the first player to complete 600 fours in IPL.

6.24 – Rashid Khan holds the record for best economy rate (6.24) in IPL with a minimum of 250 balls bowled. He will very crucial in the season campaign of SRH this year.

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