IPL 2020 – A season without interruptions, Boult’s perfect starts, Dominance of uncapped players and more stats

After the performances in the first half of the tournament, it was evident that the defending champions Mumbai Indians stand in line for yet another title. Unlike the other sides, their winning spree didn’t come down despite the change in the toss trends over the course of two months. This helped them to get better of the Delhi Capitals- the 2nd best team of the tournament on as many as four occasions. The dominance of the Mumbai team was such that DC couldn’t give a tough fight to MI in the finale as well.

Here are all the major statistical highlights from the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League:

A season without interruptions:

2 – The 2020 IPL is only the 2nd edition of Indian Premier League which ended without the loss of even one over in any of the 60 matches. The 2010 edition hosted by India was the first to not suffer the loss of overs due to climatic conditions.

Interestingly, 2010 and 2020 are the only editions of IPL which did not take place in May months. The 2010 season was hosted across March and April months itself due to the WT20 scheduled for May month.

Boult’s perfect starts for MI:

1 – Trent Boult became the first bowler to pick a wicket on the first ball of an IPL final by picking the wicket of Marcus Stoinis. It was also the first time Boult picked a wicket on the first ball of a T20 game in his career.

It extended Boult’s tally of first over wickets in IPL 2020 to 8; the most for any bowler in an edition of IPL. Before the IPL 2020, Boult never claimed a wicket in the IPL during the first over of the opposition innings. Five of those eight first-over wickets of Boult came in the matches against Delhi Capitals.

The tournament of uncapped Indians:

473 – Devdutt Padikkal’s 473 runs in IPL 2020 are the most by an Indian uncapped player in the debut IPL season. The RCB opener also became the first uncapped Indian with as many as five fifties in the debut IPL season.

516 – Ishan Kishan’s 516 runs this season are the most by an Indian uncapped player in an IPL edition going past Suryakumar Yadav’s tally of 512 during the 2018 season. Surya’s 480 runs this year are the 3rd most by an uncapped Indian in an IPL edition.

30 – Ishan Kishan became the first uncapped player to hit the most number of sixes during an IPL season. The MI batsman struck 30 sixes across the 14 games he played which are the 2nd most by a batsman for MI in an IPL edition after Sanath Jayasuriya (31 sixes in 2008).

A tournament for pacers:

3 – Kagiso Rabada (30), Jasprit Bumrah (27) and Trent Boult (25) claimed more than 25 wickets apiece in the IPL 2020. The trio recorded the first-ever instance of three players with 25+ wickets in an IPL season.

This is also just the 2nd tournament in Twenty20 cricket where three or more players returned with 25+ wickets. During the 2010 English T20, as many as five players ended up with at least 25 wickets.

Mumbai’s big-hitting tournament:

137 – Mumbai Indians smashed a total of 137 sixes during this IPL which are the most by any side. These are also the most MI have struck in an IPL season going past the 120 maximums they hit in 2015.

Only Chennai Super Kings (145 sixes in 2018), Kolkata Knight Riders (143 sixes in 2019) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (142 sixes in 2016) hit more sixes in an IPL season than MI in 2020.

The keeper, the captain, the opener:

522 – KL Rahul scored 522 runs in IPL 2020 during the games where he kept the wickets. He thus became the first player in IPL to amass over 500 in a single edition as keeper-captain. Rahul’s tally is only behind that of Matthew Wade in T20 history as the Australian scored 592 runs during the BBL 2018-19 as the keeper-captain of Hobart Hurricanes.

MVP from the bottom:

1 – Jofra Archer became the first player to win the MVP award (or Man of the tournament) in an IPL season from a team that ended at the bottom of the table. Archer’s 305 MVP points are the most for Rajasthan Royals in an IPL season after Shane Watson (406.5 points in 2008 and 386 points in 2013).

MI’s settled squad:

15 – Number of players used by Mumbai Indians during IPL 2020- the fewest number of players used by a team in a season where they won the title. The 15 players are the joint fewest Mumbai franchise used in an IPL season alongside the 2018 edition where they finished 5th. Chennai Super Kings used only 14 players in the 2015 edition where they ended as runners-up.