IPL 2018: Luckiest team of the tournament

What's the story?

In a first of its kind, ESPNcricinfo has launched "Superstats", counting the luck percentage of teams and players. In its first edition, the luckiest teams of the IPL 2018 were revealed on Thursday.

Kolkata Knight Riders with 349 lucky runs stands at the top while Chennai Super Kings follow with 315 lucky runs.

In case you didn't know...

Superstats is a new method to assess cricketing metrics. One of its aspects is "Luck Index", counting the lucky runs made by a batsman and a team, hence unveiling the luck-factor of the game. Since luck plays an important role in this uncertain game, ESPNcricinfo has brought up this initiative to analyse the lucky index of the teams.

It works on lucky elements which consist of:

1. Dropped catch
2. Missed run-out/stumping
3. Batsman wrongly given not out by umpire
4. Batsman wrongly given out by umpire
5. Batsman dismissed off a no-ball
6. Misfield/overthrows
7. No-ball/wide
8. Edged boundary
9. Batsman injury

The heart of the matter

Considering these elements, the portal on Thursday revealed the luckiest teams of the Indian Premier League 2018 season wherein Kolkata Knight Riders are leading the table.

The Shahrukh Khan co-owned franchise was eliminated in the second Qualifier and had 349 lucky runs. Likewise, the champions of the tournament, Chennai Super Kings had also made 315 lucky runs. Meanwhile, Kings XI Punjab, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Delhi Capitals follow the list with 263, 257 and 223 lucky runs respectively.

What's next?

The Superstats could well make things easier for cricket pundits, however, how players and teams are going to make use of it will be quite interesting to see. Meanwhile, the upcoming edition of IPL is set to start from March 23rd with Chennai Super Kings taking on Royal Challengers Bangalore in the first match.