Tilak Varma of Mumbai Indians plays a shot during the 2025 IPL match between Gujarat Titans and Mumbai Indians (Photo by Pankaj Nangia/Getty Images)
The first 10 matches of IPL 2025 threatened to replicate the previous season when bat dominated ball like never before, there were record totals and chases, fours and sixes galore and mayhem in the powerplay. However, things have tempered down and become more ‘normal’ thereafter with most of the power-hitters from 2024 coming out a cropper in this edition. Batting first has emerged as an advantage which goes against the historical trend of the tournament and the two giants of the IPL – Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings – have crumbled under pressure.
RG looks at the trends and patterns and other highlights from the second and third week of the IPL.
Dip in Run-Rate and Calmer Powerplays
The first 10 matches of the season had a combined run-rate of 9.91 – it was at an all-time high for any season after the first 10 encounters. However, there has been a significant dip in the scoring thereafter with the run-rate dropping to 9.29 from match 11.
The powerplay run-rate numbers have taken a considerable beating. While the scoring rate in the first 6 overs in the first 10 matches was a whopping 10.2, that number has plummeted in the next 15 matches and come crashing to 9.01. Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders took powerplay batting to unprecedented heights last season. While SRH had a run-rate of 11.2, KKR blasted their way to the title with a run-rate of 11.1. Both teams have struggled to up the ante against the new ball and have a run-rate of 9.7 and 9.9 this season. Even Delhi Capitals, who are unbeaten in the tournament, have seen their powerplay run-rate dip from 10.7 in 2024 to 8.3 in this edition.
The likes of Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Phil Salt, Sunil Narine and Jake Fraser-McGurk haven’t quite fired this season.
Batting First Flips the Trend
A total of 204 sixes were hit in the first 10 matches this season. That was approximately 20 sixes per match. The frequency has gone down significantly in the next 15 matches with a combined 248 sixes (16.5 sixes per match).
While the team batting second had a marginal advantage in the first 10 matches, winning six of these encounters, the trend has reversed in the next 15 games. The team setting a target has won nine and lost six matches. The team batting first has been victorious in all three matches at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Two matches in Mullanpur have also both been won by the team setting the target.
MI and CSK Spiral Downward
The Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium at Uppal in Hyderabad has been a batting paradise with a run-rate of 10.8 in the three matches this season. Sunrisers blasted 286 in their opening encounter at the venue – the second-highest team total ever in IPL history! Cricket-21’s ball-by-ball data tells us that the venue has the least dot ball percentage (18.2%) and the best balls per boundary ratio (3.9) in the edition.
Chepauk has been sluggish and the most difficult scoring venue in the edition with a combined run-rate of just 7.6. A boundary has been hit only every 6.5 balls at the venue and the dot percentage is also high at 29.2%.
The slower bowlers have got better returns than the pacers so far in IPL 2025. The spinners have taken a total of 118 wickets at an average of 29.1, strike rate of 19.8 and economy of 8.8. The fast bowlers, on the other hand, have picked up a wicket every 30 runs and have a strike rate of 18.3. They have been quite expensive with an economy of 9.84.
The two giants of the IPL – Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings – have been in a free fall this season. MI have won just one solitary match in five encounters and are at number 8 on the table. They haven’t got the starts at the top of the order with Rohit Sharma struggling to replicate his international form for Mumbai Indians. He has scored just 38 runs in four innings. Will Jacks has also been in poor form and managed just 54 runs in his four outings. MI’s opening-wicket stand is just 17.2 – the second-worst this season. The bowling, without Jasprit Bumrah for the first four matches, lacked venom with the new ball. MI have a combined bowling average of 51.8 and economy of 10.4 in the first six overs in the powerplay.
CSK have had a shocker of a season so far and have lost five of their six encounters. The batting has been abysmal and their combined batting average of 24.1 is the second-worst this season. CSK batters have displayed no intent and been very subdued and lacklustre in their attitude and approach. They have a strike rate of 131.8 which is, by far, the lowest this season. To add to their woes, CSK have lost their skipper and the mainstay of their batting – Ruturaj Gaikwad – due to an elbow injury. He has been ruled out of the tournament.
Nikhil Narain is a die-hard cricket romantic, published author, and has worked for some of the leading digital websites and broadcasters in India and overseas. An alumnus of the London School of Economics, Nikhil's forte is using data and numbers creatively to weave interesting stories and revolutionize the way cricket statistics are generated and analyzed.
