Every T20 league brings a local flavour which distinguishes it from other leagues. IPL already rises above its peers owing to the second largest population in a world driven by an unparalleled love towards cricket. BCCI being one of the first-movers in the territory of franchise cricket also played its part.&nbsp;On cricketing grounds, India, with its rich history of spinners was supposed to bring them to the forefront of T20 cricket, even though experts had written their obituary at the inception of the format. That is what happened. The use of spinners in IPL was at its peak in 2019 which could well be termed as <a href="https://www.cricket.com/news/a-season-of-turn-and-bounce-in-ipl-201954" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">a season of turn and bounce.&nbsp;</a>When the 2020 season was announced to be staged in the UAE, it appeared to be another grand season for the tweakers. Teams with a good spin attack were seen at an advantage. Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Capitals made it to every experts&rsquo; probable Top 4 as their squad boasted of the most experienced spinners. Royal Challengers Bangalore roped in the leg-spinner Adam Zampa as a replacement for the unavailable pace bowler, Kane Richardson.&nbsp;However, what happened drew stark juxtaposition with the expectations. The pitches were conducive to fast bowlers and we witnessed pace ruling the roost.It was uncharacteristic behaviour from the UAE pitches. In T20Is involving the Test playing nations in the UAE since 2018, spinners took wickets at 21.5 runs apiece while getting a wicket every 20 balls. The economy stayed at 6.5 runs per over. In IPL 2020, spinners went at 34 runs per wicket and 27.1 deliveries per wicket while conceding runs at 7.5 per over.&nbsp;Let us analyze the middle phase - overs 7 to 15 in every T20 innings. The spinners are supposed to be more dominant in that phase, which had been the case in IPL since 2012. The numbers since 2017 tell the tale.&nbsp;<img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2F294fa598752839f1bf517dcf045b815cf53ef358.jpg" style="width: 600px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200">While the average and strike-rate for pacers is marginally higher than it was in 2017, 2020 remains to be the only edition in this timeline when pacers managed better numbers than spinners.&nbsp;It is worth noting that the economy-rate during this phase this season was 7.4, which is pretty much similar to what it had been in the previous editions. Spinners were still able to cease the flow of runs. Ample turn was there if the bowlers ripped the ball, like Ravi Bishnoi&rsquo;s googlies. However, wickets did not come. The difference was not the turn but the speed of it.&nbsp;In the UAE, the ball turns but at a slower speed allowing the batsmen to adjust themselves. On Indian pitches, the ball grips, bounces higher with sharper turn, giving batsmen less to no chance to adapt. CSK&rsquo;s home ground, Chepauk is a prime example.&nbsp;Consequently, the spinners took a backseat this year in the wicket&rsquo;s department. In 2018, Rashid Khan was at the second spot in the list of most wicket-takers. In 2019, Imran Tahir won the Purple Cap. This year, Tahir played only three games despite being available throughout the season. Although, it was due to CSK&rsquo;s squad combination but they suffered the most due to the unforeseen behaviour of the pitches.&nbsp;Having built a dynasty on the viciously turning pitches of Chepauk, they seemed helpless on the pacy tracks of the UAE.&nbsp;<img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2Fa90c0735a3597d1457540868b50d65fa2d622ddb.jpg" style="width: 600px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200">Ravindra Jadeja had one of his worst years with the ball averaging 53 runs per wicket and 36.3 balls per wicket - both second worst in a season. In other repercussions, a brilliant all-rounder like Mohammad Nabi could play only one game. In CPL 2020, he picked 12 wickets in as many games at an economy of 5.1 runs per over with his off-breaks. But acknowledging the nature of pitches, Sunrisers Hyderabad opted for a pace bowling all-rounder. After Mitchell Marsh was injured, Jason Holder took what was supposed to be Nabi&rsquo;s spot prior to the tournament. Mujeeb Ur Rahman, the second highest wicket-taker in CPL 2020 went wicketless in his two games.&nbsp;On the other hand, the finalists, Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals flourished. MI were able to continue with their strategy of two overseas pacers. The only vulnerability of their squad - a thin spin department - was never highlighted. Similarly, DC paired Kagiso Rabada with Anrich Nortje. The duo took 52 wickets between them.&nbsp;The pitches were expected to slow down but even that did not happen. The track for the final in Dubai was lively. Only Sharjah slowed down with a considerable decline in the par score.&nbsp;<img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2F6f041c7f892a06850572c5c71ce8c931001b7de8.jpg" style="width: 600px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200">It is not only spinners who suffered. The contingent of pacers who relied on change of pace also faltered. For DC, Keemo Paul did not get a game and Harshal Patel tapered off. Daniel Sams, the highest wicket-taker in the BBL 2019/20 couldn&rsquo;t pick a single wicket in three games. Jaydev Unadkat and Tom Curran were innocuous.&nbsp;RCB bought Dale Steyn and Isuru Udana. Both were excellent in the Mzansi Super League prior to the auction. The South African pitches provided grip to their variations. In IPL, they were deserted of that additive.<img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2F654c3a61cc06778e5e9ff6176094bc3c2408940e.jpg" style="width: 600px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200">The assistance was only available at Sharjah but got neutralized by the miniscule size of the ground. Chris Gayle <a href="https://www.cricket.com/news/top-tactical-blunders-in-ipl-2020-1605694744301" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">exploited</a> it wonderfully in <a href="https://www.cricket.com/match-score/197733/summary/kkr-vs-kxip-match-46-indian-premier-league-2020" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Match 46</a>, though against the spinners.&nbsp;A combination of true pitches and big grounds allowed the pacers with sheer pace or quality swing or both to populate the Top 10 wicket-takers list of the season. Rabada won the Purple Cap, Jofra Archer was the Most Valuable Player of the season despite his team finishing with a wooden spoon and Trent Boult levelled the feat of most wickets in the Powerplay in any season (16). Spinners bowled only 16.5 percent of overs in the Powerplay this year compared to 25.2 percent in 2019. Jasprit Bumrah gathered over 1,000 points in Criclytics MVP list of the season solely on the back of his bowling.&nbsp;All these developments this year created the highest difference between the bowling average of pacers and spinners.&nbsp;<img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2Fb7464eefa046a73a51c925ef1ebf62978ed72d9d.jpg" style="width: 600px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200">Hence, 2020 became an outlying season in IPL in terms of pace bowling. It was a kind of season we won&rsquo;t likely be seeing anytime soon with the BCCI President, Sourav Ganguly asserting that the 2021 IPL will be staged in India.

Expectations backed spin but it was pace which ruled the roost in IPL 2020 

Trent Alexander Boult

Jasprit Jasbirsingh Bumrah

Anrich Arno Nortje

Kagiso Rabada

Jofra Chioke Archer

Ravindrasinh Anirudhsinh Jadeja

Dale Willem Steyn

Isuru Udana Tillakaratna

Indian Premier League, 2020

Chennai Super Kings

Delhi Capitals

Mumbai Indians

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Kings XI Punjab

IPL 2020: An outlying season of pace over spin

A majority of cricket experts called it wrong. There was an expectation of spin to win on the dry wickets in UAE. With only three venues and used pitches, it seemed like a matter of time when spinners will rage havoc. It never happened. The pacers proved to be the real match-winners in IPL 2020.&nbsp;Such was the dominance of pacers in IPL 2020 that the six of the<a href="https://www.cricket.com/criclytics/1667/indian-premier-league-2020/most-valuable-player">&nbsp;top-10 most valuable players</a>, <a href="https://www.cricket.com/news/most-valuable-player-of-each-side-part-1-1605189727032" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">the MVP of six teams</a> and top-four leading wicket-takers were all quickies. The question we try to answer here is who among them and their spin counterparts were the most impactful bowlers in IPL 2020.Similar to our analysis for the <a href="https://www.cricket.com/news/the-most-impactful-batsmen-in-ipl-2020-usual-suspects-and-some-surprises-1605713034945" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">batsmen</a>, we feel that assessing the most impactful bowlers based on highest MVP points aggregated throughout the season is not a correct approach. It will lead to a disproportionate bias towards bowlers who played more matches or the bowlers that were just above average in most games.Hence, to arrive at the bowlers that had the most impact in IPL 2020, let us look at the players who finished as the best bowler in a match on most nights. Using this as a parameter, here is the list of cricket.com&rsquo;s most impactful bowlers in IPL 2020-&nbsp;<img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2F102e8fa64e875cec682eafd0e5b99ea3b48aa51a.jpg" style="width: 600px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200">Since the rabbit is out of the hat, let us deal with the surprise first. Kagiso Rabada was the winner of the Purple Cap in IPL 2020. He took at least one wicket in 14 of the 17 games. However, while being among the wickets in most games, Rabada failed to deliver the impact upfront that defines the outcome of the game.&nbsp;Twenty out Rabada&rsquo;s 30 wickets came in the death-overs. While he bowled a similar number of overs in the Powerplay (23 vs 23.4 at the death), he took just two wickets in this phase. Whenever he picked early wickets, he affected the outcome of the game, like in the Qualifier 2 when he got the all-important wicket of David Warner. This turned out to be the only game when Rabada finished as the best bowler on the night. Lack of wickets when it mattered resulted in the leading wicket-taker in IPL 2020, the bowler with the fifth-highest MVP bowling points, finish with no man of the match awards in this season.Jofra Archer was the MVP of IPL 2020, let alone be the most impactful bowler. He was the best bowler in a game on six occasions. These include Rajasthan&rsquo;s savoured victories against MI and KXIP later in the season. Archer bowled a spell of 2/26 and 2/31 in these games that saw runs in the range of 185-195. In all the other four games, he finished with a spell of less than run a ball while picking at least two wickets.One can argue that if not for the presence of the other, either of Jasprit Bumrah or Trent Boult could have toppled Archer for the top spot. However, a better argument would be that pressure they created as a pair led them to their best season in the IPL at an individual level.Both Bumrah and Boult were the best bowler in a game five times. There was a time later in the season when Bumrah came back from nowhere to threaten Rabada for the Purple Cap. He took 13 wickets for 45 runs in three penultimate games before the final, including a four-wicket haul against DC in the Qualifier 1.&nbsp;Boult too enjoyed most of his success against his former side, DC, against whom he finished with tournament figures of 9/96. This included a match-winning spell of 3/30 in the <a href="https://www.cricket.com/news/live-report-ipl-2020-final-mi-vs-dc-1605015102744" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">final</a>. Leading the charts with the bat, Mumbai Indians had most match-winners with the ball as well. It signifies their absolute domination in IPL 2020-&nbsp;<img data-fr-image-pasted="true" src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2F21943e3b8178785d41c09d0c578d96a6e91d8ddd.jpg" data-code="200" style="border-style: none; max-width: 100%; cursor: pointer; color: rgb(65, 65, 65); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; width: 900px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">&nbsp;A list of impactful bowlers in a T20 tournament cannot be complete without Rashid Khan. Like Boult and Bumrah, he too enjoyed most of his success against Delhi. Rashid&#39;s spell in SRH&rsquo;s first fixture against them, 3/14 while defending 162 in Match 11 was the best in IPL 2020 in terms of match impact. Later, his spell of 3/7 against the same opposition in a must-win game in Match 47 was the most economical this season.Wrapping up the top-5 is Delhi&rsquo;s own Anrich Nortje. While Rabada hogged the limelight this season, Nortje was the best bowler on the night on three occasions, all of them resulted in a win for Delhi. These were against CSK, KKR and RCB. His spell of 3/33 against KKR came at Sharjah when they scored 210/8 in reply to a target of 229.&nbsp;Three spinners and two pacers follow the top-5 most impactful bowlers. This includes one of the finds of the season &ndash; Varun Chakravarthy. Another example of a reduction in bias in this analysis is the inclusion of Chris Morris who played only nine games. If he would have been fit for more games, both him and RCB could have finished higher than where they did.

Find out if Rabada or Nortje had a better impact on DC’s success and the other most impactful bowlers in IPL 2020

Rashid Khan Arman

Yuzvendra Singh Chahal

Varun Chakravarthy Vinod

Patrick James Cummins

Christopher Henry Morris

Ravi Bishnoi

Kolkata Knight Riders

Rajasthan Royals

Was Rabada among the most impactful bowlers in IPL 2020?

Frequently changing captains and coaches has hurt Kings XI Punjab in the past and that is why the franchise has decided to work on a three-year plan under Anil Kumble and KL Rahul to take the side forward, co-owner Ness Wadia has said. It was a roller-coaster ride for KXIP this IPL. They lost six out of their first seven games before winning five in a row to storm back into play-off contention. The Rahul-led side needed to win its last league game against Chennai Super Kings to reach the top-four but it couldn&#39;t.Looking back at the recently-concluded season, Wadia said the umpiring error to call a short-run when it wasn&#39;t, cost the team a play-off berth though it did not show the required consistency in the first year under captain and coach combine of Rahul and Kumble. &quot;It is a new captain, new team with a lot of fresh faces, sometimes it clicks and sometimes it doesn&#39;t. The auction is coming up soon and we would be looking to plug the gaps in the middle-order and our bowling,&quot; Wadia told PTI.&quot;The international players did not perform to the expected level,&quot; he said referring to the likes of Glenn Maxwell and Sheldon Cottrell, for whom KXIP paid big money at last year&#39;s auction.He also said that Chris Gayle, who was surprisingly not picked in the first half of the tournament, had done enough to be playing from game one next season. On the speculation surrounding a ninth team for the next season, Wadia said it showed the ever-increasing interest in the world&#39;s biggest T20 league and he would welcome the addition as long as it doesn&#39;t hit existing teams financially.Talking about the future under Kumble and Rahul, Wadia said: &quot;We have charted a three-year strategy with Anil. We revamped this season and finished sixth and lost (the play-off spot) only by one game.&nbsp;&quot;KL has been with us for three years and there was a reason why we went after him so aggressively. He has proved us right,&quot; he said, referring to the tournament&#39;s highest-run getter.&quot;It is tough for the top order when your middle order is not performing. The good thing is that we have an established core now (Rahul, Agarwal, Pooran, Gayle and Shami) and we need to plug the gaps which are quite apparent (middle-order and death bowling).&quot;Kumble took over from Mike Hesson, who parted ways after one season, while Rahul was appointed captain after R Ashwin&#39;s switch to Delhi Capitals. &quot;...KXIP&#39;s record of making too many changes in captaincy and coaching is something which we want to correct,&quot; he said.&quot;Rahul captained exceedingly well and gained in confidence with each game. We are lucky to have him. Shami has been brilliant too and has adjusted brilliantly to the T20 format. Pooran and the young Ravi Bishnoi and Arshdeep Singh too performed well.&quot;KXIP had the services of T Natarajan (now SRH) and Varun Chakravarthy (KKR) in the past but they let them go. &quot;Imagine if we had those players, Sam Curran (CSK) also but again it is all in hindsight. Each coach who comes in has a thought process and a manner in conducting himself like any other CEO of a company.&quot;One has to allow them time to settle, provide stability and allow them to make mistakes and learn rom them and take the team forward,&quot; said Wadia.Gayle was not picked for the first five games and food poisoning ruled him out for the next two. He eventually played after seven games and fired straightaway to end with 288 runs at 41.14 including a 99. &quot;The team management did what it thought was best for the team. It is important to back experienced players and Gayle has demonstrated that he should play every game next season,&quot; said the co-owner.Wadia also called for rule changes in the IPL after a short-run call against Delhi Capitals effectively cost them a play-off spot. &quot;It is bizarre. The rules need to be updated. Today it is KXIP, tomorrow it could be other teams.&quot;&nbsp;

Wadia also called for rule changes in the IPL after a short-run call against Delhi Capitals effectively cost them a play-off spot

Anil Radhakrishna Kumble

We have charted a three-year strategy with Kumble: Wadia

T20 is the most difficult format to assess the batsmen. For the bowlers, it is acceptable to be good in either of the two aspects &ndash; taking wickets or being economical. But, for the batsmen, earning cricket&rsquo;s ultimate currency &ndash; runs - is not enough. Even the biggest knock of the match in terms of runs can be a match-losing one if not scored at a rate better than the average run-rate of that game.In the IPL this season, KL Rahul was head and shoulders above all batsmen in terms of net runs. He finished with 670 runs, 52 runs more than the next-best Shikhar Dhawan playing three innings fewer. But, was he the most impactful batsman in the season? Especially when these runs came at a strike-rate of 129.9 that is lower than six other top-10 run-getters in IPL 2020.In cricket.com&rsquo;s feature <a href="https://www.cricket.com/criclytics/1667/indian-premier-league-2020/most-valuable-player" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">criclytics</a>, there is a report card for each of the 60 games in IPL 2020. Included in this are the MVP batting and bowling points awarded to each player based on their contribution in a particular match. &nbsp;One way of assessing the best batsmen in this year&rsquo;s IPL would be to gauge them by the net MVP batting points that each one of them accumulated throughout the season. However, when it comes to assessing the most impactful batsmen, this approach might not work for two reasons.Number one &ndash; There will be a bias towards the batsmen who did not play all matches. E.g. since Dhawan had 17 innings with the bat, it is easier for him to collect more points. On the other hand, since Ishan Kishan played only 13, he will miss out, which he does as he is 11th on the list of players with highest MVP batting points in IPL 2020.Number two &ndash; It is possible for a player to just be better than the average in most games and keep accumulating points to finish higher than a lot of other players. This will be irrespective of the number of high impact knocks he played in the season that made the difference for his side. Shreyas Iyer is one such example. He is sixth on the list of players with highest MVP batting points this season, but how many high impact knocks do you remember him playing? With a strike-rate of 123.3 this season, it is fair to say: not many.There is no other side that has cracked the code of T20 cricket quicker than the Mumbai Indians. This reflects in their results. The key to their squad is having a bunch of players with the ability to win a game on their own. If six players within a team put their hands up to win two games each, the side will win the trophy in most seasons.Coming to the crux of the argument, to identify the batsmen that had the most impact in IPL 2020, let us look at the players who finished as the best batsmen in a match on most nights. Using this as a parameter, here is the list of cricket.com&rsquo;s most impactful batsmen in IPL 2020-<img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2F36e2c45c657ee0b8e4029d2bec3950f7487b01a2.jpg" style="width: 900px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200">As both AB de Villiers and Dhawan finished as the best batsman on the night on four occasions, we have used the MVP batting points accumulated per innings as the tiebreaker.&nbsp;This list gives us a better idea about the batsmen who not just scored big runs in the tournament, but those runs mattered for their side and in the match. Now, all these knocks need not be match-winning as there can be other factors at play but they were the best in a given match.The leader of the pack, de Villiers, played a blinder against Jasprit Bumrah and co in Match 10 of the IPL. Then, he seemed to be batting on a different pitch against Kolkata at Sharjah. In the latter half of the tournament, he demolished the Royals on his own. With a little help from others and if not for Kane Williamson&rsquo;s astute counter-attack, de Villiers could have carried RCB to the qualifier as well.Not far behind was Dhawan who apart from his twin hundreds was Delhi&rsquo;s match-winner with the bat in the Qualifier 2 as well against the Royals in Match 30. He also finished second in the list of highest MVP batting points in IPL 2020.In what can be his breakthrough season, Kishan finished with the record of best batting points per innings. Not only did he hit the most sixes in IPL 2020, but he was also the best batsmen on the night on three occasions. Twice against Delhi, in the first qualifier and Match 51, and once against Chennai while opening the batting in Match 41.In most of his knocks this year, Rahul had a strike-rate below the match run-rate. But, whenever he was more aggressive, twice against RCB and once against MI in the historic twin Super Over game, he was the best batsman in the game and a match-winner for his side.Wrapping up the top-5 is&nbsp;David Warner who also leads the pack on highest MVP batting points accumulated in IPL 2020. Getting better as the tournament progressed, Warner was the best batsman in three matches including the all-important last league game against Mumbai Indians.It is a surprise to see Rohit Sharma in the list who is 28th on the list of highest MVP batting points. But, whenever he delivered, he created a difference. His high impact knocks came against MI&rsquo;s second and fourth game against KKR and KXIP when they were playing after a loss in their previous game. He was also the best batsman in the final.This analysis also rewards players like Mayank Agarwal who spent some time on the bench due to injury and could not finish among the top run-getters.&nbsp;<img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2Fdb4e90c5423d4d843a6ccfc7867088bc60d3fe8f.jpg" style="width: 900px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200">Looking at the top-10 list, it is easier to understand the dominance of MI in this year&rsquo;s IPL. All four of their top-order batsmen find themselves among the most impactful batsmen this season. Overall, an MI batsman was the best batsman on the night on 11 occasions, the highest among all teams.&nbsp;

Find out who joins Shikhar Dhawan and Ishan Kishan in the list of the most impactful batsmen in IPL 2020

Abraham Benjamin de Villiers

Shikhar Dhawan

Kannaur Lokesh Rahul

Ishan Pranav Kumar Pandey Kishan

David Andrew Warner

Rohit Gurunath Sharma

Shubman Gill

Suryakumar Ashok Yadav

Quinton de Kock

Mayank Anurag Agarwal

The most impactful batsmen in IPL 2020 - Usual suspects and some surprises

Tactics form an important part of any team sport. Given the shorter length of a T20 game, gaining an early advantage is key, making tactics more important in cricket than ever before. Coming to the field well-prepared now means turning up with a good game plan. The 2020 Indian Premier League saw such ploys in abundance. Some were good, but some turned out to be atrociously bad.Here, we look at some tactical blunders which went on to cost the teams that employed them. Not to forget, a lot of these tactics are framed by the coaches of the respective sides rather than the captains.&nbsp;The demotion of AB de Villiers&nbsp;It has become a common consensus in the IPL that AB de Villiers struggles against leg-spinners. Across the 2018 and 2019 seasons of the IPL, he averaged 26 while striking at 128.4 against them, which one might say is below par going by his abilities.&nbsp;Kings XI Punjab took note of these numbers. In both their games against RCB, they deployed both their leggies, Ravi Bishnoi and Murugan Ashwin. It was enough to unsettle Royal Challengers Bangalore.&nbsp;In <a href="https://www.cricket.com/match-score/197718/summary/rcb-vs-kxip-match-31-indian-premier-league-2020" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Match 31</a>, AB de Villiers was slated to bat at four as usual. RCB lost the first two wickets by the seventh over. Instead of de Villiers, in walked Washington Sundar. Up to an extent, Sundar&rsquo;s promotion seemed logical. It ensured a right-left batting combination to counter the leg-spin duo. Also, RCB had not enjoyed Kohli and de Villiers batting together too soon in the innings. It has often restricted both from playing freely in order to ensure at least one of them bat through.&nbsp;However, Sundar and Kohli added only 24 runs for the third wicket in 24 balls. Sundar kept running into the off-spinner, Glenn Maxwell. Kohli contributed only 11 off 10 balls. Having batted till the 11th over, Sundar had set the stage for de Villiers. But, RCB took everyone by surprise by further pushing de Villiers down to number six. Shivam Dube was promoted over him.While the 11th over was the perfect stage for de Villiers to walk in, his entry was delayed until the 17th over. As maverick as he is, expecting de Villiers to start striking it from ball one isn&rsquo;t fair. In T20s since 2019, de Villiers has a strike rate of 124.9 in the first 10 balls of his innings while it escalates to 160.1 over the next 10 deliveries. He did not have the cushion of those first 10 balls and perished for 2 in a failed attempt to find the fence. Not to forget, de Villiers had hammered a match-winning 73 in the previous match on the same ground. On this occasion, RCB wasted their best batsman and lost the game on the last ball of KXIP&rsquo;s run-chase.&nbsp;Unadkat bowling the 19th over<img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2Fab8173d3cd420b4ced50821b22905ed641a73af3.jpg" style="width: 600px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200"> Another common knowledge in T20 cricket suggests that while defending a total, one should bowl their best bowler in the penultimate over. RCB needed 35 with two overs in hand and Rajasthan Royals skipper Steve Smith handed the ball to Jaydev Unadkat instead of opting for Jofra Archer.&nbsp;Unadkat was carted for a six off each of the first three deliveries by de Villiers, bringing the deficit down to 17 from nine balls. A delivery later, Gurkeerat Singh Mann collected a four. There were 25 runs from the over. Criclytics underlined it as a <a href="https://www.cricket.com/criclytics/197720/rr-vs-rcb-match-33-indian-premier-league-2020/game-changing-overs" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">match-changing over</a> which brought RR&rsquo;s win percentage down by 45 percent.&nbsp;Archer was the Most Valuable Player of the tournament but defending 10 runs in the last over against a rampaging de Villiers is tough even for the world&rsquo;s best. After the defeat, Smith said Unadkat was given the leeway of a longer boundary on the leg-side. In any case, had Archer bowled the 19th over, the story could have been different.Nitish Rana bowling the 10th overDefending 173 in a<a href="https://www.cricket.com/match-score/197736/summary/csk-vs-kkr-match-49-indian-premier-league-2020" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> must-win game against Chennai Super Kings</a>, Kolkata Knight Riders had a firm grip on the game until a moment of inexplicable decision-making. CSK were 58 for one in nine overs when Eoin Morgan decided to use the part-time off-break of Nitish Rana.&nbsp;There was no need to bowl Rana, especially that soon. The run-rate was well under KKR&rsquo;s control, there were two right-handers at the crease - Ambati Rayudu and Ruturaj Gaikwad - and the pitch had not shown any signs of helping spinners extravagantly. Moreover, Rayudu was only five balls into his innings. If anything, it was an opportunity for Morgan to bring his strike bowler on.However, he opted for Rana which permitted freedom to Rayudu early in his innings. The right-hander scored a boundary off each of his first three balls in the over, providing impetus to the innings. The 16-run over opened the floodgates and CSK raced to 100 by the end of the 12th over. CSK completed the run-chase off the last delivery of the game. KKR won their next game but fell short of a spot in the playoffs due to net run-rate.&nbsp;RCB feeding Pollard with leg-spinners<img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2F72608baa371aa35dbe76ac5cffb86285cd686d7b.jpg" style="width: 600px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200">Kieron Pollard has a strange relationship with leg-spinners. In T20s from 2018 until Match 9 of IPL 2020, he had a strike rate of 128 against leg-spinners in the first 15 overs of the innings.&nbsp;In the last five overs, however, it skyrockets to 201.4. Conclusion - do not bowl leg-spin to Pollard at the death.&nbsp;In <a href="https://www.cricket.com/match-score/197697/summary/rcb-vs-mi-match-10-indian-premier-league-2020" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Match 10</a>, though, RCB skipper Kohli fed the Trinidadian with back-to-back overs of leg-spin, against Adam Zampa and Yuzvendra Chahal (17th and 18th over in the innings). Facing 10 of those 12 deliveries, Pollard hammered 42 runs. Ishan Kishan scored seven from the remaining two deliveries, producing 49 runs from those two overs. Mumbai Indians, after being well behind the eight ball for about 35 overs of the customary 40 in the game, were back in the contest and went as far as taking the game to a Super Over. &nbsp;Moreover, there was no riposte by RCB to Pollard&rsquo;s power-hitting. All those 12 deliveries were flat and failed attempts at bowling leg-breaks without the variation of an arm-ball or a googly.&nbsp;KKR delaying Ferguson till the 12th overWhen Chris Gayle is in and you want to get him out early, spinners are definitely not the way to do that. Since 2018, Gayle has been dismissed early (equal to or less than 10 balls in the innings) 28 times out of which pacers have accounted for his departure on 23 occasions.&nbsp;But KKR, in <a href="https://www.cricket.com/match-score/197733/summary/kkr-vs-kxip-match-46-indian-premier-league-2020" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Match 46</a>, had different ideas. When Gayle arrived at number three in a run-chase of 149, KKR were building a platform to strangle KXIP. Gayle arrived at the start of the ninth over which was a perfect moment for KKR to unleash Lockie Ferguson. They had been using Ferguson in the seventh over in the three matches he had played earlier. In this game, they delayed his arrival to the 12th over. They did not use Pat Cummins either.<img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2Fbe8cb9acf91353574088b487ae7aa6ca71b7c15c.jpg" style="width: 600px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200">Instead, they went for the mystery spin of Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy. Gayle had struggled to score against mystery spin before, but it was a different story on the small outfield of Sharjah. He used the three-over spell between Narine and Chakravarthy to get his eye in as well as to score runs. He smoked three sixes and by the time Ferguson arrived, he had already raced to 20 off nine balls.&nbsp;In a small run-chase, this brief burst was enough to hand an advantage to KXIP. Gayle carried on to score a match-winning 51 (29 balls) as KKR were left wondering &ldquo;what if&rdquo; they had attacked the big man with either Cummins or Ferguson earlier.Gowtham bowling the last over against MIKXIP were both mediocre and brilliant in terms of tactics in IPL 2020. They exploited the match-ups efficiently but failed to field a proper XI in many games. <a href="https://www.cricket.com/match-score/197700/summary/kxip-vs-mi-match-13-indian-premier-league-2020" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Match 13</a> was a prime example of the latter. It was their first match after conceding a total of 223 against RR in Sharjah. That game accentuated that Sheldon Cottrell was not a death bowler.&nbsp;Hence, KXIP finished his quota by the 13th over. This left them with only two pacers for the last five - James Neesham and Mohammed Shami, both of whom were yet to do something substantial in that phase. With two overs left each, they bowled the four overs from the 16th to the 19th and conceded 64 runs between them. It was evident that KXIP would have no option but to use Krishnappa Gowtham&rsquo;s innocuous off-breaks in the 20th over.Gowtham conceded four sixes in the over. One cannot blame him as he should not have been bowling that over. It generally goes to one of the top bowlers in the side. However, KXIP had no one skilled enough to do the job in their XI and further miscalculated to stay content with Gowtham in the 20th over. Those last five overs - 89 runs - took the game away from KXIP as MI reached 191 and won the match comfortably.&nbsp;

We look at some tactical blunders which went on to cost the teams in IPL 2020

Virat Kohli

Sunil Philip Narine

Lachlan Hammond Ferguson

Christopher Henry Gayle

Kieron Adrian Pollard

Steven Peter Devereux Smith

Krishnappa Gowtham

Eoin Joseph Gerard Morgan

Ambati Thirupathi Rayudu

Nitish Rana

Jaydev Dipakbhai Unadkat

Adam Zampa

Top tactical blunders in IPL 2020

I have often seen that the first person tone is reserved in cricket articles for well-known figures &mdash; an ex-cricketer, or a commentator. Having spent 72 days in a bio-secure bubble to cover IPL 2020 as a Hawk-Eye analyst, and having undergone ten completely free-of-cost COVID19 tests, my sense of self-importance is at an all-time high and I have ventured into the first person territory.There is the element of I-know-it-all that starts creeping in after having worked a few years in the industry. But funnily enough, every time you think you have got the patterns sorted out, the match-ups, the tactics to make AB de Villiers surrender even before facing a ball, the game does manage to humble you in more ways than one. It forces you to relook, recalibrate and reform your opinions. Here are a few of those thoughts from IPL 2020, presented in two parts.&nbsp;<a href="https://cricket.com/news/ipl-2020-and-its-head-scratchers-part-ii-1605522209697" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Read Part 2 of the article, here.</a>Indian captains, their scoring rates and the different side of Shikhar Dhawan:As the T20 game seems to be developing towards the idea of batsmen going hard, pushing the scoring rate, the Indian regulars have gone the other way. Be it Virat Kohli (S/R 121.3), Rohit Sharma (127.7), Shreyas Iyer (123.3), Rishabh Pant (114) or KL Rahul, the gold standard (forgive the advertising hangover) of Indian T20 batting (who knocked around at a rate of only 129.3 this season). The funny caveat here is that four of these five are captains of their respective franchises.Amidst all this, I had given up hopes on Shikhar Dhawan, the T20 opener, who repeatedly proved me and my fantasy team wrong as he scored at a monstrous rate (relative to his Indian mates) of 144.7, easily his best in any IPL season. He showed he had that additional gear which as a naturally aggressive batsman he had shown signs of without really breaking the frontier in T20s.It is distinctly evident from the fact that it took him 265 innings to score his first T20 century despite playing as an opener. He found that experience so great, he promptly went on to score another one in his very next innings, thus becoming the first batsman to score back-to-back centuries in the IPL. I liked this version of Dhawan, who doesn&rsquo;t muck around with the bat in the middle overs so much that I finally decided to pick him in my team before the knockout stages. The only parting thought about that call is - Life can be cruel.&nbsp;<img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2Fac625f01e894040483e5d7f806eb31246df8bb4f.jpg" style="width: 600px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200">Fun Fact: Dhawan&rsquo;s worst season in the IPL (in terms of strike rate) after being an India regular came in 2014, the only edition in which he was the captain of his side. The learning here is don&rsquo;t make your best Indian batsman the captain of the team. The moment he thinks, he is the most important batsman of the side, the &lsquo;anchor&rsquo; weighs him down.The curious case of Mohammed ShamiIt has been well established by now that Shami is a class act in the red-ball format. In fact, amongst first-change bowlers, he is the best pacer in the history of Test cricket (in terms of balls/wicket). When it comes to ODIs, Shami has been a consistent wicket-taker, his strike rate being the third-best in ODI history after Mitchell Starc and Mustafizur Rahman (amongst pacers with minimum 100 wickets). If you add the perception bias of Shami landing yorkers at will, he seems like a straight shoo-in as an Indian pacer in an IPL team, right?&nbsp;Well, let&rsquo;s just park that thought. The truth is, since the start of the IPL to the end of the 2019 edition, only one Indian pacer had a bowling average worse than him: Ajit Agarkar. Similarly, only one Indian pacer fared worse in terms of economy rate: Hardik Pandya. If you are the kind of person who relies on numbers, the conclusion was simple, Shami is probably the worst Indian pacer to have played in the IPL. I am not one for superstitions and definitely not part of the brigade that attributes anything unusual happening around the world to the year 2020. From what I saw this year from Shami, you can say that I am a convert.Shami picked up 20 wickets, the second-highest for any Indian pacer. Apart from that, he delivered a crushing Super Over to the duo of Quinton de Kock and Rohit Sharma, managing to defend 5 runs. In the first 35 IPL games of his career, Shami picked up 21 wickets, in his next 28, he has picked up 39.&nbsp;<img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2F68a75fe2b033e36482028fe704b0163a16db6702.jpg" style="width: 600px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200">No doubt, Shami was assisted by the decks at Dubai and Abu Dhabi, which suited his style of new ball bowling. But credit should be given where due. It should not, however, be assumed by any means that he is a complete T20 bowler. His Super Over super-heroics is only going to add to the perception bias that he is a great death bowler but a closer look and you will see that he went for 11.7 runs an over during the death overs&mdash; the worst for any Indian pacer and the second-worst overall (after Tom Curran) in the tournament. Though he did pick up 11 wickets in the back five of an innings, if you have Shami in your team, he needs to bowl out the majority of his overs before the end stretch. That is where he can influence games more.

The batting strike-rate debate was in full bloom this season at the IPL while Mohammed Shami turned a new corner 

IPL 2020 & its head-scratchers – Part I

It has been a scintillating season of cricket in IPL. One can assess it by the fact that the difference between the number two team and the last team on the table was only four points. In fact, the team which finished last was in contention for a Playoff spot until their last league game. It was an unbelievable ride and that is reflected in the XI of the year which consists of some surprising inclusions and exclusions. Here is Cricket.com&rsquo;s IPL XI of the Year powered by Criclytics: :Shikhar DhawanShikhar Dhawan started his season on a slow note. Following a run out for a duck in the first game with pedestrian scores in the thirties, it took him the seventh match to score his first fifty of the season, which came in a losing cause. But it was a tale of two halves for the Delhi southpaw.<img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2Fd4857942ab93d11ebe9f3377c4adce694de43bf3.jpg" style="width: 600px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200"><a href="https://www.cricket.com/match-score/197721/summary/dc-vs-csk-match-34-indian-premier-league-2020" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Dhawan recorded his first T20 hundred in the ninth game</a> and became the first batsman to score consecutive hundreds in the tournament&rsquo;s history. His rejuvenated form came at the right time for Delhi Capitals as returns from other batsmen diminished. October 14 onwards, he was the highest run-scorer by a distance (417 runs, ie, 87 ahead of the next best) despite three ducks. During this period, he showcased a masterclass on boundary-hitting during the middle-phase accumulating 189 runs at a strike-rate of 158.8 (something to note for Virat Kohli).&nbsp;Overall, Dhawan accrued 618 runs in the season, his best in a season. Moreover, the strike-rate was up at 144.7 - again his best in a season, playing a massive role in DC&rsquo;s maiden final appearance.&nbsp;Mayank AgarwalYou must be thinking where is KL Rahul. He is the Orange Cap holder with 670 runs at an average of 55.8 while fulfilling the role of a wicket-keeper and a captain. However, at a strike-rate of 129.3, did his runs made the kind of impact Kings XI Punjab must have hoped for from their premier batsman? The answer is debatable.Mayank Agarwal, Rahul&rsquo;s opening partner, amassed 424 runs at 38.6. But striking at 156.5, the second-best amongst the 21 batsmen to notch up over 400 runs in the season, he had more impactful performances for KXIP. Mayank&rsquo;s tally could have been higher had he not been the risk-taker in his partnership with Rahul. Whenever his opening stand with Rahul went beyond the Powerplay, it was Mayank who took the mantle of going for runs (strike-rate of 174.4 between overs 7 to 15) while Rahul attempted to bat through.&nbsp;Mayank was the more complete batsman this season tackling every facet of a T20 innings with intent (Rahul&rsquo;s strike-rate against spin this season was only 94.4 compared to Mayank&rsquo;s 177) which makes him more worthy of a spot in the IPL XI of the year.Suryakumar YadavThe highest run-scorer this season at number three (480), Suryakumar Yadav was the most impressive uncapped player this season. His display of maturity with the correct conflation of caution and aggression bewildered people about why he has not played for India yet.&nbsp;<img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2F726c0d06bfa4333a94aee630592673d1d9d2cf7c.jpg" style="width: 600px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200">Surya scored his runs striking at an impressive 145. His numbers against pace display an average of 45.5 alongside a strike-rate of 152.5. He dominated spin by averaging 69 at 136.2. Batting first, he averaged 38.4 while batting second, the number rose to 43.3, striking in excess of 140 in both cases. There was no scenario in which he didn&rsquo;t excel. He may not be good enough for the Indian cricket team yet, but Surya remains unrivalled for the number three spot in IPL XI of the Year.&nbsp;Ishan KishanKishan was initially not in Mumbai Indians&rsquo; plans. It was a niggle to Saurabh Tiwary that gave Kishan a chance and he fetched it with both hands, scripting MI&rsquo;s return in a daunting run chase <a href="https://www.cricket.com/match-score/197697/summary/rcb-vs-mi-match-10-indian-premier-league-2020" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">with a knock of 99</a>. From there on, Kishan became the highest run-scorer of the season for MI, smashing 516 runs at 57.3. His strike-rate, 145.8 is the highest amongst the top eight run-scorers in the season?.&nbsp;He had a small hitch in between when he fell for a golden duck to a rash shot. But Kishan showed maturity lifting himself to three half-centuries in last seven matches. Two of them came as an opener as the youngster showed signs of turning into a complete T20 player.&nbsp;AB de Villiers (wk) (c)There were instances when AB de Villiers gave the feeling of batting on a different pitch from the rest of his RCB teammates. <a href="https://www.cricket.com/match-score/197715/summary/rcb-vs-kkr-match-28-indian-premier-league-2020" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">In Match 28</a>, he was miles ahead of any other batsman on either side. He scored 73 not out striking at 221 while no other batsman to have scored at least 20 could touch the strike-rate of 140.<img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2Fa2ac90d43b22d6ff68b7ba2c22137f84197297bb.jpg" style="width: 600px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200">This was de Villiers&rsquo; legacy this season. Used primarily as the finisher, he won RCB three games with the bat. Amongst the batsmen to score 100 runs in the slog overs, he was the highest run-scorer (258) with the second-highest batting strike-rate (222.4).&nbsp;Being the only player to keep wickets in this XI, he is the wicket-keeper of this side. Being the most experienced in the XI, he is also the captain. No designated captain in IPL 2020 has made it to this piece and the focus lies on picking the best players first (after all we are not picking England&rsquo;s Test team).Marcus StoinisStoinis has piped Kieron Pollard to earn one of the two all-rounder&rsquo;s spots in the XI. Except Dhawan, he was the only DC batsman who showed consistent form at the back end of the tournament. In 17 games this season, Stoinis topped the <a href="https://www.cricket.com/criclytics/198674/dc-vs-srh-qualifier-2-indian-premier-league-2020/report-card" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Criclytics report card</a> for DC in a record five games with his all-round contribution - thrice finishing with 10 out of 10.&nbsp;The Hulk rescued DC on many occasions. With a strike-rate of 148.5 - the highest by a DC batsman this season - he instilled the impetus into the innings irrespective of the batting position. With the ball, he kept chipping in with his golden arm - snaffling big wickets of Manish Pandey and Kane Williamson in Qualifier 2. This was Stoinis&rsquo; first grand season in IPL and it has placed him straight into the team of the year.&nbsp;Rahul TewatiaIn a squad heavily dependent on superstars, Rajasthan Royals found a new guy in Tewatia to persist with for their future endeavours. His five sixes in an over to Sheldon Cottrell paved the way for the biggest run-chase in IPL history - <a href="https://www.cricket.com/match-score/197696/summary/rr-vs-kxip-match-9-indian-premier-league-2020" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">RR chasing KXIP&rsquo;s 223 at Sharjah</a>. It did not stop there. Tewatia showed he can battle it out against high-class spinners as well. He racked up three consecutive boundaries against Rashid Khan when the required rate was 12 and won the game from a situation of a lost cause.With the ball, he was the joint second-highest wicket-taker for RR. But his economy was much better than the senior leg-spinner in the squad (7.1 in comparison to Shreyas Gopal&rsquo;s 8.5). Overall, Tewatia was the third <a href="https://www.cricket.com/criclytics/1667/indian-premier-league-2020/most-valuable-player" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Most Valuable Player</a> in the tournament according to Criclytics with 1,008 points.&nbsp;Jofra ArcherThis was the first season when the Most Valuable Player came from a team that held the wooden spoon. In a side filled with some of the best international stars, Archer carried RR with economical spells and wickets in every game.In the Powerplay, Archer bowled at an unparalleled economy of 4.3. Overall, he took 20 wickets at an economy of 6.6 and a record of 16.7 balls per wicket. The rest of the pacers combined took 21 wickets at an economy of 10.5 and 35.2 balls per wicket. In addition, Archer scored 113 runs at a strike-rate of 179.4, the second-highest in the tournament. On Criclytics, Archer accumulated 1,126 points, the most in the season and is an automatic entry into the XI of the year.&nbsp;Rashid KhanTo lessen his impact, opposition batsmen tried to play him out but even those tactics did not stop Rashid Khan from being the most impactful spinner of the season. He picked 20 wickets at an economy of 5.4 runs per over, the best in the season irrespective of the minimum number of overs. Eight times in 16 games, his economy was less than 6.&nbsp;<img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2Fe414efa62f29840592e164dcec18d37297647354.jpg" style="width: 600px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200">His twin spells against DC were the highlights of the tournament. The first one, 3/14 while defending 162 in Match 11 was the best spell in IPL 2020 in terms of <a href="https://www.cricket.com/criclytics/197698/dc-vs-srh-match-11-indian-premier-league-2020/report-card" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">impact</a>. Later, his spell of 3/7 against the same opposition in a must-win game in <a href="https://www.cricket.com/match-score/197734/summary/srh-vs-dc-match-47-indian-premier-league-2020" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Match 47</a> was the most economical this season. With 1,005 MVP points, he was the <a href="https://www.cricket.com/news/most-valuable-player-of-each-side-part-1-1605189727032" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">most valuable player for SRH</a> in IPL 2020.&nbsp;Mohammed ShamiShami has been playing IPL for a while but it is this season when critics can say he has finally cracked the code in T20s. Though his numbers were only marginally better than last year (20 wickets compared to 19 last season while bettering his economy by 0.1), it was his execution of yorkers which made Shami special.He laid impact in every phase of the game for KXIP. Starting with a fiery new-ball spell against DC, it was his impeccable <a href="https://www.cricket.com/match-score/197723/summary/mi-vs-kxip-match-36-indian-premier-league-2020" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Super Over against MI</a> consisting of six yorkers that made people take notice of Shami 2.0 in T20 cricket.&nbsp;Jasprit BumrahHe did not win the Purple Cap but Jasprit Bumrah was arguably the best bowler of the season. He is the only player to gather over 1,000 points on Criclytics MVP table on the back of his bowling alone. After starting the tournament on a moderate note, Bumrah found his mojo after an exceptional Super Over against RCB in MI&rsquo;s third game. His performance went north ever since.Bumrah had the second-best economy in the Powerplay and the death overs amongst bowlers who bowled more than 10 overs in the two phases each. He had two four-wicket hauls and three three-wicket hauls in the season while going at under 6 runs per over in six out of the 15 games he played.&nbsp;<img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2Fdd9e46ee86bbf41ed6c7b1d195bfbd78822cba64.jpg" data-code="200">Player image credits: IPLT20.comProbably for the first time, the IPL XI of the Year is populated with three uncapped cricketers. It could have been four as T Natarajan came really close. David Warner, Kieron Pollard and Yuzvendra Chahal are other honourable mentions. Surprisingly, neither the Orange Cap nor the Purple Cap holder (Kagiso Rabada) has made it to the list but it only underlines the quality over quantity premise.&nbsp;

Here is an XI acknowledging the best performers in IPL 2020

Rahul Tewatia

Marcus Peter Stoinis

Mohammed Shami Ahmed

IPL XI of the Year, 2020

Note &ndash; The ratings are based on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cricket.com/criclytics/1667/indian-premier-league-2020/most-valuable-player" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">criclytics</a>&nbsp;player ratings in IPL 2020Kolkata Knight RidersPat Cummins Total MVP Points &ndash; 899 Number of matches as KKR&rsquo;s MVP - 3Despite a lot of big names, KKR struggled to find consistent performances. As a result, the side kept fluctuating between wins and losses and never looked threatening in the tournament.After starting the tournament with a couple of expensive spells, Pat Cummins found his mojo while bowling with the new ball. He bowled 67.3% of his overs in the Powerplay at an economy of 6.6. While Varun Chakravarthy took most wickets for KKR &ndash; 17, Cummins was the second-highest wicket-taker for KKR with 12 wickets.What helped Cummins gain extra MVP points was his contribution with the bat. He was KKR&rsquo;s sixth-highest run-getter with 146 runs that came at a strike-rate of 128.1. He ended up scoring more runs than their pre-tournament MVPs &ndash; Andre Russell and Sunil Narine.Kings XI PunjabMohammed Shami Total MVP Points &ndash; 791 Number of matches as KXIP&rsquo;s MVP &ndash; 0This is one of the most surprising choice for MVP for a team in this edition. Even more so because Mohammed Shami never emerged as KXIP&rsquo;s best player in the match on any occasion. Yet, while there was always a KL Rahul or a Mayank Agarwal to overshadow him on the night, Shami&rsquo;s consistent performance ensured that no other player ended laying more impact than him in their squad at an aggregate level.Not only was Shami KXIP&rsquo;s leading wicket-taker with 20 wickets, but he stood tall at crucial junctures. Getting better at executing his yorkers at the death, he was one of the most lethal finishers with the ball this season.<img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2F197909073da714c694139ca89965e124395d2946.jpg" style="width: 900px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200">Starting the tournament with a fiery spell again DC to a superb death over display against them in the reverse fixture, Shami was the most-improved T20 cricketer this season. His Super Over against the mighty Mumbai Indians was one for the ages.&nbsp;Chennai Super KingsSam Curran Total MVP Points &ndash; 893 Number of matches as CSK&rsquo;s MVP &ndash; 5Before Ruturaj Gaikwad came along, there was only one man who was carrying the CSK ship. He was Sam Curran. Making a name for himself among the veterans, the most delightful aspect of Curran&rsquo;s performance this season was his flexibility.&nbsp;Curran swung the ball upfront and executed his yorkers at the death. He batted at the top of the order when needed and was always lethal in the last few overs. He was CSK&rsquo;s highest wicket-taker with 13 dismissals against his name. Moreover, he scored a crucial 186 runs in the tournament while batting at different positions.He ended being CSK&rsquo;s MVP on the night as many as five times. Also, he is among the only three players to earn a perfect 10 on the report-card three times. Marcus Stoinis and Jasprit Bumrah are the other two.&nbsp;Rajasthan RoyalsJofra Archer Total MVP Points &ndash; 1126 Number of matches as RR&rsquo;s MVP &ndash; 5Jofra Archer is the MVP of IPL 2020, let alone being the MVP for Rajasthan Royals. In a side filled with some of the best international stars, Archer carried RR with economical spells and wickets in every game.In the Powerplay, Archer bowled at an unparalleled economy of 4.3. Overall, he took 20 wickets at an economy of 6.6 and a record of 16.7 balls per wicket. Such was the difference in class between him and the others was that the rest of the pacers combined took 21 wickets at an economy of 10.54 and 35.24 balls per wicket.<img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2Fd38b163522594c1be1ba4daa44c9da2197bc70c6.jpg" style="width: 900px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200">From an overall perspective, if we look at bowling alone, Jasprit Bumrah has the highest MVP points. What helped Archer to get extra MVP points were his 113 runs that came in just 63 balls. Archer ended up being RR&rsquo;s MVP on the night as many as five times, twice earning a perfect 10.An honourable mention goes out to Rahul Tewatia. With 1008 points, he was RR&rsquo;s second most valuable player while being the third most valuable overall in IPL 2020.<a href="https://www.cricket.com/news/most-valuable-player-of-each-side-part-1-1605189727032" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Click here to read Part 1</a>

Here is a look at the most valuable player of Kolkata Knight Riders, Kings XI Punjab, Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2020

Samuel Matthew Curran

IPL 2020: Most Valuable Player of each side – Part 2

After 60 matches, Mumbai Indians (MI) have been crowned champions of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020. The IPL 2020 was held under difficult circumstances, but the tournament produced some world-class cricket, high-octane contests and some memorable moments that could never be matched or forgotten. There were some innings that took our breath away &ndash; the elegant strokes, the brute force and coming out with flying colors in pressure situations &ndash; the batsmen were at their very best throughout the course of the tournament. Here, we look at five such innings:KL Rahul 132* (69), KXIP vs RCB, Match 6, Dubai: KXIP skipper KL Rahul not just played the best innings of this IPL, but played one of the greatest innings of the entire 13 editions. Punctuated with 12 fours and seven sixes, Rahul showcased his skills and showed the world as to why he is the one of the best T20 batsmen in the world at the moment.&nbsp;<img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2F4e58001c0feec44273321f3544f07c468cdc540e.jpg" style="width: 900px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200">RCB had very little answers to Rahul&rsquo;s blistering stroke-play, who notched up his fourth T20 century and his highest score not just in the IPL, but also in T20 cricket. Riding on Rahul&rsquo;s knock, KXIP posted 206 for 3 and went on to win the match by a massive 97-run margin to get their campaign up and running.Ishan Kishan 99 (58), RCB vs MI, Match 10, Dubai: Chasing 202 to win against RCB, MI batsman Ishan Kishan came into the crease with his team in a spot of bother at 16 for 2 in the third over. Soon, MI were reduced to 39 for 3 and when Hardik Pandya was dismissed for just 15 in the 12th over, the game seemed to be over for MI. However, Kishan along with Kieron Pollard stitched together one of the best partnerships in IPL, putting on 119 off just 51 deliveries, to help MI tie.&nbsp;<img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2F07e2a64b5fc2392c1cf1e4a20831275416a0a725.jpg" style="width: 900px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200">Despite losing Pandya and Quinton de Kock, Kishan kept MI afloat initially, bringing up his fifty off just 39 balls. In the next 19 balls, Kishan went on to score 47 more runs, taking MI to the brink of an incredible win, but was dismissed off the penultimate ball of the innings, one short of what would have been an amazing hundred. MI may have lost the match in the Super Over, but Kishan&rsquo;s innings was worth more than a hundred and gave MI more than a chance of winning from an improbable position.Marcus Stoinis 53 (21), DC vs KXIP, Match 2, Dubai: KXIP would have been delighted with the way they had gone about things in this match when they had reduced DC to 86 for 4 in 14 overs. Walking in at six, Marcus Stoinis lost his skipper Shreyas Iyer off the very next delivery. DC would have taken 130-140 at that point, but Stoinis had other ideas.&nbsp;<img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2F7794df83f6e9fa13acddb719c6781868dc43e29d.JPG" style="width: 900px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200">He launched an excellent counter-attack, striking seven fours and three big sixes to take DC to a competitive total of 157 for 8. DC, who were down and out not too long ago suddenly found themselves in a position where they could actually win the game. The match turned out to be a roller-coaster affair as it ended in a tie, but DC ran out victors in the Super Over, after Stoinis once again proved to be a thorn in KXIP&rsquo;s flesh picking up two wickets in the final over.&nbsp;Shikhar Dhawan 106 (61), KXIP vs DC, Match 38, Dubai: Coming on the back of his maiden IPL century, Shikhar Dhawan became the first cricketer in the history of the tournament to slam back-to-back centuries. His 106 off 61 on a tricky Dubai surface may not have helped his side beat KXIP on the day, but it was a special knock considering that none of his team-mates got going. Iyer and Rishabh Pant made 14, which was the second highest score for DC. For KXIP, it was Nicholas Pooran (53) and Glenn Maxwell (32), who helped KXIP romp home to a five-wicket victory.Ben Stokes 107* (60), RR vs MI, Match 45, Abu Dhabi: In a match where RR had to win to stay alive, they received a jolt when Hardik Pandya&rsquo;s 60 off 27 took MI to a massive 195 for 5 &ndash; the highest score in Abu Dhabi in IPL 2020. Moreover, RR had conceded 89 runs from their last five overs, which put their campaign in jeopardy. With Robin Uthappa (13) and Steven Smith (11) back in the pavilion inside five overs, the onus was on Ben Stokes to deliver. They made it to 55 for 2 at the end of the Powerplay, but it was still an uphill task.&nbsp;<img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2F37655e20f3525d0c3e79452204c200d21cd05236.JPG" style="width: 900px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200">Sanju Samson initially played second fiddle to Stokes, who has hitting the ball cleanly. Once in, Samson too started to go for his shots, making life more difficult for MI, who had a bowling attack consisting of Trent Boult, James Pattinson and Jasprit Bumrah to boast of. Stokes got up his fifty of 29 deliveries and raced to a hundred in the next 30 deliveries and finished with an unbeaten 60-ball 107. His 152-run stand with Sanju Samson (54*) helped RR win by eight wickets with 10 balls to spare.

Here's a look back at some of the best knocks of the recently-concluded season

Benjamin Andrew Stokes

IPL 2020: Top five knocks

One of the biggest plus-points of the Indian Premier League (IPL) over the years has been the fact that a lot of Indian players have received a huge platform to showcase their skills. While domestic competitions such as Ranji Trophy, Vijay Hazare Trophy etc. are incredibly important in the development of a young cricketer, the IPL has often taken the game of a few players to the next level.Sharing dressing rooms, training with and competing against some of the best is what enables them to improve their white-ball game. Usually, they also get to experience the pressure of playing under huge crowds, but unfortunately, that wasn&rsquo;t possible this season. Despite that, there were many cricketers who got their first taste of IPL action this season and some of them showed great promise. Here are five such cricketers.NOTE: Players considered here made their IPL debuts in 2020. Some might have been part of a franchise&rsquo;s squad previously but never featured in the playing XI. Also, this list is in no particular order.DEVDUTT PADIKKALDevdutt Padikkal was one of the outstanding batsmen in Indian domestic cricket during the 2019/20 season, top-scoring in the Vijay Hazare Trophy as well as the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. On the back of that, he was given a chance this season after having warmed the bench for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) last year.Padikkal made full use of the opportunity presented to him as he began the season with an impressive half-century against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). He would go on to notch up two more fifties in his next three innings as he established himself in the RCB side. In a team that possessed batting heavyweights such as Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Aaron Finch, the 20-year-old ended the season as the franchise&rsquo;s top run-scorer which is an incredible achievement by itself.Padikkal managed 473 runs at an average of 31.5 and a strike rate of 124.8 in IPL 2020. In fact, no batsman after the inaugural edition in 2008 has managed more runs in a debut IPL season. Scoring rate is something he&rsquo;d want to improve on, but if his numbers across all T20 cricket are anything to go by, that shouldn&rsquo;t be a worry in the long-term.&nbsp;<img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2F602c7ce03b78e10bf90c4b3b7ff0a2370f0fca2d.png" style="width: 600px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200">RUTURAJ GAIKWADIf Ruturaj Gaikwad had played the entire season, he might have found himself a place in the above graphic as well. In total, the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) batsman scored 204 runs in six innings at an average of 51 and a strike rate of 120.7. If you look at his season more closely, you will notice a distinction between the first half and the second.Gaikwad didn&rsquo;t have much time to prepare for the season as he tested positive for COVID-19 in the lead-up to the tournament. When he came into the side, he was played in the middle-order and was dismissed for scores of 0 and 5 after which he was dropped for a while. He then returned when CSK were on the verge of elimination but looked all at sea against Mumbai Indians pacer Trent Boult and was dismissed for another duck.After the aforementioned failures, there was pressure on Gaikwad and he showed tremendous character to bounce back. In his last three innings, he showed why he&rsquo;s so highly-rated in Indian domestic circles as he notched up three successive fifties. More so, all three knocks helped CSK to end the tournament on a high. In a disappointing season, Gaikwad was one of the positives for an ageing Super Kings outfit.RAVI BISHNOIRavi Bishnoi was one of the stars of India&rsquo;s run to the final at the U-19 World Cup earlier in the year, bamboozling batsmen as he finished the tournament as the highest wicket-taker. As you&rsquo;d expect, after those performances, there was a lot of expectations from the 20-year-old ahead of this season&rsquo;s IPL.Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) had a multitude of spinners in their ranks &ndash; namely Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Murugan Ashwin, Krishnappa Gowtham, Jagadeesha Suchith and Harpreet Brar &ndash; yet it was the least experienced of the lot, Bishnoi, who played every game. While Bishnoi didn&rsquo;t have an outstanding season, the fact that KXIP played him in every game shows how highly he is thought of.One interesting aspect of his bowling was the regular use of the googly. Across the season, only Rashid Khan (184) bowled more googlies than Bishnoi (169). He had a bowling strike rate of 18.8 and an economy rate of 6.7 and, importantly, induced a false shot percentage of 33.1 using his wrong &lsquo;uns. There were enough indications that Bishnoi has a bright future ahead of him.<img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2F2dd4020a1697b9f174ac09acfa63536ef09428f2.png" style="width: 600px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200">ABDUL SAMADLike Bishnoi, Abdul Samad does not have outstanding numbers to show for this season. In fact, 111 runs in eight innings and one wicket from seven overs seem underwhelming. But Samad definitely caught the eye with a couple of knocks, one of which came against Delhi Capitals (DC) in Qualifier 2.With the Sunrisers facing an uphill task, Samad &ndash; alongside the experienced Kane Williamson &ndash; gave his team hope. His batting against Anrich Nortje was especially breathtaking as he took on the South Africa international bowler and hit him for a brilliant six over mid-wicket followed by two fours off three successive deliveries. You might also remember him going six-four-six against Jasprit Bumrah earlier in the tournament &ndash; that was some amazing hitting as well.While the 19-year-old couldn&rsquo;t take SRH home against DC in the end, his talent was there to be seen. He finished the season with a batting strike rate of 170.8 and had experienced cricketers heaping praise on him with Harbhajan Singh tweeting: &ldquo;Abdul Samad gonna be a special &amp; Big player in future.. played some brilliant shots today specially that pull shot against Nortje&rdquo;.&nbsp;KARTIK TYAGIAlongside Bishnoi, Kartik Tyagi was also one of the top bowlers at the 2020 U-19 World Cup. Again, his numbers weren&rsquo;t that great during the IPL either &ndash; nine wickets at a strike rate of 25.4 and an economy rate of 9.6 &ndash; but there were signs as far as a promising future was concerned.Apart from Jofra Archer, the Rajasthan Royals bowling on the whole was disappointing this season. This wouldn&rsquo;t have helped 20-year-old Tyagi, especially considering he was left to bowl some tough overs at the end of the innings.A couple of things he&rsquo;ll want to improve on are his Powerplay bowling and his overall line and length. During the first six overs of the innings, he conceded 10.8 runs per over which is far from ideal. On the other hand, a look at Tyagi&rsquo;s bowling pitch map across the entire innings below, you&rsquo;d notice that he was all over the place. With experience, he&rsquo;ll surely bowl more consistently which should consequently get him better results.<img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2Fee52e217fc46797606d2e8d5991ebaec877d4591.jpg" style="width: 600px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200">NOTABLE MENTIONSPriyam Garg captained the Indian team at the U-19 World Cup and he had a middling IPL season with SRH. In total, he scored 133 runs in 10 innings at an average of 14.8 and a strike rate of 119.8 in IPL 2020. There was one magnificent knock amongst the lot &ndash; an unbeaten 51 from 26 deliveries against CSK when the team from Hyderabad found themselves in dire straits. Garg will be hopeful of building from this season and producing a better one next year.Kamlesh Nagarkoti is also a U-19 World Cup star, albeit he was part of the tournament two years earlier. Since that tournament in early 2018, his career has been halted due to injuries and he finally got an opportunity this IPL. KKR should be given a lot of credit for sticking around with the right-arm pacer despite him missing so much action. While he took only five wickets in nine innings this season, expect more from him once he has further game-time under his belt.(Image Courtesy - BCCI)

From Devdutt Padikkal to Ravi Bishnoi, a few players got their first taste of on-field IPL action this season and performed admirably 

Devdutt Babunu Padikkal

Ruturaj Dashrat Gaikwad

Abdul Samad Farooq

Kartik Tyagi

Priyam K Garg

Kamlesh Lachham Nagarkoti

Five Indian IPL 2020 debutants who impressed

Jointly owned by Bollywood actress Preity Zinta, Karan Paul (Apeejay Surendera Group) and Mohit Burman, the Kings XI Punjab had a fabulous first season, where they finished second on the points table with the help of Shaun Marsh who was a one-man army for his team. Unfortunately for the franchise, the team failed to live up to its standards in the next two editions. However, in 2011, with senior Australian player Adam Gilchrist leading from the front, the team fought its way back into the competition but still struggled to make it to the playoffs.
The 2012 auctions, though, saw the franchise making a few changes in their squad for the fifth season. Former Pakistani cricketer Azhar Mahmood (with an English citizenship), Ramesh Powar and James Faulkner were bought by Punjab, while Dinesh Karthik was transferred to the Mumbai Indians camp in exchange of Rajagopal Sathish. Punjab had a quiet first half but bounced back dangerously in the second, only to disappear in thin air when it mattered. They had to be content with a 6th place finish in the end. However, in 2014, the Kings turned it around and enjoyed their best tournament. The Australian, Glenn Maxwell, who was bought in the auction, was at the thick of things, scoring 552 runs and was instrumental in their success. They topped the table and finished as runner-ups after losing a thriller to Kolkata.
After that though KXIP were not consistent enough. In the 2018 IPL auction, they bought in quite a few superstars like Chris Gayle, Lokesh Rahul and Aaron Finch. They started off the tournament in an excellent manner under Ravichandran Ashwin's captaincy but lost their way when it mattered the most.