Statistical comparison on who is the better IPL finisher between AB de Villiers and Kieron Pollard

The 14th season of IPL was postponed recently after a number of COVID cases were reported among the teams. We saw some incredible performances this season, and among those were AB de Villiers and Kieron Pollard as well. Both the cricketers have been the veterans of the league and have been the key cog in their respective teams.

So one question which may arise among fans is that who among these two greats have more impact in the league as a finisher. In this article, we will be comparing the numbers of AB de Villiers and Kieron Pollard on some different criteria to help you better understand their mark in the tournament.

Overall stats in IPL

In the overall record, AB de Villiers is very much ahead of Kieron Pollard with the former having a better average and strike rate in the league. The Proteas batsman has accumulated 5056 runs in IPL at an average of 40.77 and strike rate of 152.38. He is in fact the only IPL player to complete 5000 IPL runs at 150+ strike rate and an average above 40. He has hit 245 sixes and 406 fours in the cash-rich league.

On the other hand, Kieron Pollard has 3191 runs to his name in 154 innings played in the tournament. He has scored these runs at an impressive strike rate of 150.87 and an average of 30.68. Interestingly, Pollard has smashed more sixes (211) than fours (207) in his IPL career.

Batting stats in IPL chases

When it comes to chasing a target in IPL, Kieron Pollard possesses a better record in comparison to the RCB player. Pollard has a strike rate of 157.77 in chases much higher than South African’s strike rate of 138.3.

The average of both players is similar in this case, though de Villiers has scored more runs with more innings to his name.

Batting stats in death overs

The real test of any player who is given the responsibility of being a finisher in the team is to perform well in death overs. This helps the team in posting high totals or chasing the target. The data suggests the AB de Villiers has been much more successful than his counterpart in this case.

He has scored 1808 runs in the last 5 overs of IPL overall at a commendable average of 46.36 and strike rate of 224.6. The MI star on the other hand falls behind in this regard.

IPL record in Team wins

The dependency of any team on a player can be deduced from his record in team wins. In the case of these two players, AB de Villiers holds a superior record. He has an incredible average of 84.49 in team wins and a strike rate of 168.3.

While Pollard has a similar strike rate, he lags behind in the case of average. It is important to note that de Villiers being part of RCB for most of his career has been a key influencer in the team wins though the overall win percentage of the team is not that great.

Who has finished the game on more occasions?

One particular criterion in judging a player’s finishing ability is to check how many times has he finished a game while chasing. Here we have calculated the percentage of the number of unbeaten knocks in successful chases when the player came to bat in the innings.

AB de Villiers is slightly ahead in this case with a higher percentage. He has been not out 18 times among the 37 successful chases, while Pollard has remained not out in 15 out of 33 successful chases of the team when he came to bat. AB de Villiers has a better average while Kieron Pollard has a much better strike rate in successful chases.