IPL 2018- Performance and Bang for Buck Analysis

The event which kicked off on April 7th in Mumbai saw 51 days of non-stop cricketing action. We believe no one would disagree to the fact that, IPL 2018 was the most competitive IPL of all 11 editions, where there was fierce competition, not just among the teams to reach top 4, but also among the players for the Orange and Purple cap.

If you have followed the IPL closely, you would have definitely observed that there were so many new faces who created an impact in the tournament like Pritivi Shaw, Mayank Markande, Prasidh Krishna, Deepak Chahar, etc. , and then there were those expensive players, who were supposed to take the IPL by storm with their performances, but failed miserably.

Right then, having seen the IPL players' performances, we decided to do something new this season by analyzing the performance of the players and understanding their ‘Bang for Buck’ rating.

Chennai Super Kings emerged as winners of IPL 2018 ©BCCI

Methodology:

We used a very simple methodology to arrive at the performance points and ratings of players by considering all aspects of the game such as runs, strike rate, fours, sixes, consistency, catches, stumpings, wickets, economy rate, dot balls, etc.
To have a fair comparison, we divided the players into three brackets, viz. Batsmen, Bowlers and All-Rounders, and then compared them in their bracket.

We studied the facts of almost 100 odd players, with them having played at least 5 innings.

Batsmen:

This was the category which saw the fiercest competition. Every team had at least a player or 2 scoring tons of runs for their side. But then, who were the top 5 players who performed extremely well, and who are in the top 3 and bottom 3 ‘Bang for Buck’ players

Performance Points: Top 5 Batsmen

Then it was the pocket rocket from Delhi, Risabh Pant. How good was he! 684 runs at a strike rate of 173. 6 with eight 30+ scores in 14 matches. He was not far from Williamson. Performance wise, he was marginally less than Williamson at 1409.13. We believe, this round had to go to Kane Williamson. The thing we saw with Kane Williamson's batting this season was his consistency. He was able to cross thirty 12 times out of 17 outings, which was the best among all the batsmen. He was striking it well too at 142.44. He was one of the prime reasons, SRH were into the finals. His performance points of 1440.58 were second best to Narine, who was best among all categories.

Then there was KL Rahul, who alone carried the burden of KXIP's batting this season. If there was an award for the most stylish player, it had to go to KL Rahul. 659 runs at a strike rate of 158.41 with nine 30+ scores in 14 matches. He was only marginally short of Risabh Pant. Probably few more runs would have given him those extra points.

Next, we have the Knight of CSK army, Ambati Rayudu. 602 runs at a strike rate of 149.75 and nine 30+ scores in 16 matches. He made the best use of the opportunity and even succeeded as an opener and a middle order batsman.

Finally, we have Dinesh Karthik, who was the finisher of the season alongside MS Dhoni. He was minutely ahead of MS Dhoni in terms of runs, but what worked in his favor was the number of 30's he could muster, and slightly more catches and stumpings.

Mind you these 5 might be in the top 5, but the following five were not that far away. All these batsmen were minutely separated by few points.

Performance Points: Rank 6-10

Bang for buck Analysis:

So, these batsmen may have accumulated the highest points, but how did the batsmen perform basis their salary, or we call it 'Bang for Buck' rating.

Note: 'Bang for Buck' rating represents the points accumulated per INR crore spent on them.

Let's have a look at top 3 and bottom 3 'Bang for Buck' performances.

Bang for Buck Rating: Top 3 Batsmen

Then we had a player, who is also referred as Junior Tendulkar with 459.02 rating, Prithvi Shaw made a total of 245 runs from 9 innings at a strike rate of 153.12. He accumulated a total of 550.83 performance points in IPL 2018. As we can see, Ambati Rayudu was the best 'Bang for Buck’ player for CSK having accumulated 531.7 points per INR crore spent on him. CSK got his services for meager INR 2.2 crores. Kane Williamson followed him with 480.19 rating basis his lower salary of INR 3 crores.

Compared to the top 3, the bottom 3 brings 1 surprise, which we will come to know in some time.

Bang for Buck Rating: Bottom 3 Batsmen

Then we have a huge surprise in the form of Rohit Sharma, who factually had his poorest IPL having failed to score 300 for the first time in 11 years. His failure to amass runs could have various reasons such as batting lower down the order, low on confidence, etc., but his services for 15 crores did no good to Mumbai Indians, and in the end, he could only manage a meager 38.87 'Bang for Buck' rating. In all, he could only manage 583.07 performance points.Sarfaraz Khan, which was surprisingly retained by RCB for 3 crores did no justice to the amount spent on him having accumulated only 93.5 performance points, which means a meager rating of 31.17 per INR crore spent on him. He scored a total of 51 runs in 6 innings at an average of 10.2 and a strike rate of 124.59.

Following Rohit Sharma was Deepak Hooda, who was acquired by SRH for INR 3.6 crore. Overall, he could only manage 87 runs from 8 innings at an average of 21.75 and a strike rate of 107.4, giving him a total of 151.11 performance points and 41.97 'Bang for Buck' rating.

Others in this category having poor 'Bang for Buck' rating such as Manish Pandey, Aaron Finch, Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir, D'Arcy Short, etc.

All-Rounders:

All-rounders are assets to any team as they contribute in all the three ways. This year, there were many good all-around performances from the players, so let's have a look at their performances and their 'Bang-for-Buck' analysis.

Performance Points: All-Rounders

Hardik Pandya's role this season was more of a bowler where he took 18 wickets, better than his teammate, Jasprit Bumrah. In all, he scored 260 runs, which could have been better. How can one not have Shane Watson, who had not 1, but 2 centuries this IPL. Shane Watson made a total of 555 runs at a strike rate of 154.59. He didn't bowl that much in second half as compared to first half. In all, he took 7 wickets at an economy rate of 8.96. Had he bowled more, he would have definitely given a run-for-money to Sunil Narine. Performance wise, he amassed a total of 1223.53. Sunil Narine until last year was more of a bowling all-rounder who acted as a pinch hitter. However, the things changed this year, where his contribution as a batsman was marginally better than as a bowler. In all, he scored 357 runs at a breathtaking strike rate of 189.89 and took 17 wickets at an economy rate of 7.65. Performance wise, he could muster a total of 1456.54, which is highest across all categories.

Andre Russel played few extraordinary innings (The best coming against CSK where he scored 88 of just 36 balls). In all, he scored 316 runs at a strike rate of 184.79 and took 13 wickets at an economy rate of 9,38, which is where he could have done well.

Krunal Pandya had a decent season where he could score 228 runs and took 12 wickets. The good thing about Krunal Pandya was that every time he played, he made sure he contributed for his team, but not drastically to change the course of the game.

Bang for buck Analysis:

Now then, having seen the top 5 all-rounders performance wise, let's look at top 3 and bottom 3 'Bang for Buck' players.

Bang for Buck Rating: Top 3 All-Rounders

Shakib was followed by Shane Watson and Sunil Narine. Shane Watson was acquired by CSK for INR 4 Crores., whereas Sunil Narine was acquired by KKR for 8.5 crores. Even though Sunil Narine was acquired for a hefty INR 8.5 crore, his performance was the best among all players which gave him third best 'Bang for Buck' rating. Shakib Al Hasan was acquired by SRH for just INR 2 crores, but his performances were way better than his value. His 'Bang for Buck' rating of 494.61 was marginally better than his teammate, Kane Williamson. In all, Shakib scored 239 runs at a strike rate of 121.31 and took 14 wickets at an economy rate of 8, which is good overall. Performance wise he could muster 989.22 points, which was 6th on the list.

Now then, top 3 are always good to know, but who were the three worst 'Bang for Buck' players.

Bang for Buck Rating: Bottom 3 All-Rounders

Following him was his teammate, Axar Patel, who was the only retained blunder sorry player by KXIP for INR 6.75 cr. He could manage 80 runs from 8 innings and took only 3 wickets. It is surprising to see that the team which had players like Andrew Tye, KL Rahul also had the likes of Marcus Stonis, Axar Patel, Aron Finch, Mayank Agarwal, etc. Marcus Stonis lead the way for a poor all-round show with meager 33.39 rating. He was bought by KXIP for INR 6.2 cr., and certainly, his performance of 99 runs from 7 innings and meager 3 wickets didn't inspire his value.

Lastly, we had the swashbuckling, Glen Maxwell, who was an epitome of disappointment. I mean he batted as an opener, at 3, middle order, finisher, but never clicked. In all, he scored 169 runs from 12 innings at an average of 14.08 and a strike rate of 140.83 , and took 5 wickets

Others in this category having poor 'Bang for Buck' rating such as Ben Stokes, Washington Sundar, etc.

Bowlers:

They say, good batting team wins you matches, but a good bowling team wins you tournament. Right then, who had the best performances as a bowler, and who just couldn't justify his hefty price tag.

Performance Points: Top 5 Bowlers

Following him was the leading wicket taker this season, Andrew Tye. He had 24 wickets from 14 matches at super strike rate of 14 and economy rate of 8. What worked in Rashid's favour was the economy rate and dot balls. Overall, his 1079.46 performance points were not bad, but more tight spells could have made a difference. The top 5 bowling performances were rightly lead by the Sultan of Afghanistan, Rashid Khan. He may not have been at his best, but his performances certainly delivered him the best performance points. He took 21 wickets from 17 outings at an economy rate of 6.73. He had the maximum dot balls this season at 167. His performances combined with Kane Williamson's made sure SRH reached their 2nd final in 3 years.

If there was an award for best Powerplay bowler, it had to be Umesh Yadav, who was magnificent in the Powerplays. Overall, he took 20 wickets from 14 matches. He was also the most consistent bowler having taken 2 wickets 9 times in 14 matches. Excellent, I would say. He will also make in my best IPL 11 based on performance points.

Following him was another SRH player, Siddharth Kaul. He was a surprise to me as he made an identity for himself among so many greats bowlers. Overall, he had 21 wickets from 17 matches at an economy of 8.28, which could have been better.

Finally we had Jasprit Bumrah, who started IPL 2018 very poorly, but he improved with every game. Overall, he had 17 wickets in 14 matches at an economy rate of just 6.88, which is what worked in his favour. But as they say, we expect the best from our best bowler, and Jasprit Bumrah was far from best.

The other bowers which follow the top 5 were equally good too, these include the likes of Trent Boult, Kuldeep Yadav, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Yuzvendra Chahal and Piyush Chawla.

Performance Points: Rank 6 to 10

Bang for buck Analysis:

Now then, having seen the performances, We were as excited as you are to know who were the best and worst 'Bang for Buck' players.:

Bang for Buck Rating: Top 3 Bowlers

Following him was another player bought for just 20 lakh, Shreyas Gopal. His numbers may not be among the best, but are certainly inspiring for his value. He took 11 wickets from 11 matches at an economy rate of just 7.61. Performance wise he got 569.07 points. Bought for just INR 20 lakh, Mayank Markande was the best 'Bang for Buck' buy among all players. He gets an amazing rating of 3162.64 per INR crore spent on him. Overall, his numbers were not bad either having taken 15 wickets from 14 matches at a strike rate of 17.6 and economy rate of 8.36. What a debut season for the young lad. Performance wise he got 632.53 points.

3rd best we had Prasidh Krishna, who was another INR 20 lakh buy for KKR. He came in as a replacement for Kamlesh Nagarkoti, and didn't he grab the opportunity with both hands. He took 10 wickets from 7 matches at an economy rate of 9.28. Performance wise he got 368.86 points.

Now then, these were the top 3, but what about the disappointment, the bottom 3. Like you, even we feel sad to talk about the disappointments, but we got to do our job, no matter how bad you feel.

Bang for Buck Rating: Bottom 3 Bowlers

Following him was the costliest bowler this season, Jaydev Unadkat. He was bought by RR for INR 11.5 Cr., but had a horrible season. Overall, he took 11 wickets from 15 matches at a poor economy rate of 9.65. Performance wise he got 458.22 points. Shabaz Nadeem having acquired by DD for INR 3.2 Cr. was the worst 'Bang for Buck' player this season having secured only 13.17 points per INR crore spent on him. Overall, he could manage only 3 wickets from 6 matches at an economy rate of 10.73, which was not inspiring either. Performance wise he got only 44 points, led down by his poor economy rate.

Lastly, we had Chris Woakes, who may have taken 8 wickets from 5 matches, but his economy rate of 10.36 was among worst in terms of fast bowlers. Since, he was acquired for INR 7.4 Cr., a lot was expected from him. He also could manage to score on 17 runs. Performance wise, he got only 299 points. He was also dropped following his poor stats with the bowl.

Ahhhhh..That was one big blog we have written. we hope did justice to the ratings and performance points, and you could get what we were trying to say.

Finally, we would also like to present my best IPL X1 based on performance points.