The near-misses in IPL and the batsmen responsible

Our expert puts the spotlight on the batsmen who did not contribute to the team’s cause in a run chase.

Since I have done the Performance related calculations for Castrol, I think it is apt that I dwell on the under-performers too. We often talk about the batsmen hitting sixes and fours. Rarely do we look at the batsmen who let their team down.

The criteria is simple. The team batting second has to lose by a very small margin, normally by 5 runs or less. And the criteria for the batsmen to be included in this “Hall of shame” is that they should not have reached a run-a-ball which is the minimum requirement in a T20 match. Let me add that the match which provided the spark for this article was the one in which Chennai messed up the simplest of chases, converted a comfortable win into a tie and poetic justice prevailing, lost the one over eliminator.

Let me go back starting with this match. The “Under-performer of the match” is identified through italics.

PL-3 #17: KXP-136/8 defeated CSK-136/7 in the super over.
M.Vijay    0 (3)
Gony        2 (6)
Ashwin    2 (5)        Total: 4 (14)

IPL-3 #13: DC-170/7 defeated KXP-164/9.
Bisla                 0 (7)
Sangakkara   0 (3)
Yuvraj Singh  4 (6)
Barath          7 (10)
Chawla         9 (13)        Total: 20 (39)

CL-09 #12: T&T-149/7 defeated DC: 146/9.
Laxman     4 (6)
Abhinav     1 (3)
Symonds    2 (4)
Suman      9 (10)
Edwards     0 (1)        Total: 16 (24)

CL-09 #12: Sussex-119/7 defeated Eagles-119/4 in the super over.
McLaren    16 (28)
Van Wyk    2 (7)        Total: 18 (35)

CL-09 #10: Wayamba-118/9 defeated Victoria-103/4.
Quiney        0 (3)
Hussey          7 (22)
White        11 (20)        Total: 18 (45)
This match is selected because of the extraordinarily low score of Victoria and the biggest differential between runs and balls in this analysis.

IPL-2 #59: DC-143/6 defeated RCB-137/9 (This was the IPL-2 Final).
Pandey      4 (8)
Dravid       9 (13)
Kohli         7 (8)
Boucher     5 (6)
Kumar       2 (3)        Total: 27 (38)

IPL-2 #50: KXP-134/7 defeated DC-133/8.
Gibbs           26 (37)
Ravi Teja   10 (15)
RP Singh    0 (2)        Total: 36 (54)

IPL-2 #46: RR-145/7 defeated MI-143/10.
Bravo              1 (3)
Rahane           3 (7)
Jayasuriya       16 (21)
Kulkarni          1 (4)
Nanda/Malinga 0 (1)        Total: 21 (37)

IPL-2 #20: KXP-119/8 defeated MI-116/7.
Tendulkar    1 (6)
Dhawan      3 (7)
Bravo         15 (20)        Total: 19 (33)

IPL-2 #10: RR-150/6 defeated KKR-150/8.
McCullum    3 (9)
Hodge        5 (7)
Bangar         2 (9)        Total: 10 (25)

IPL-1 #29: KKR-129/7 defeated RCB-124/4.
Chanderpaul   7 (11)
Dravid              5 (11)        Total: 12 (22)

IPL-1 #21: RCB-156/8 defeated DC-153/6.
Gibbs        5 (7)
Afridi         1 (2)
Styris        2 (3)
Yadav       3 (4)

The Deccan Chargers have been involved in 5 such matches, winning 2 and losing 3. Kings XI Punjab have been involved in 4 matches, winning 3 and losing one. Royal Challengers Bangalore have been involved in 3 matches, winning one and losing 2.