The T20 performances to beat

With the annual Indian T20 extravaganza upon us, our expert analyses key performances in the domestic leagues.

This is a no-frills introduction to the fifth edition of the Indian Twenty20 League. Later, I will be doing some nuanced analysis of specific performances during the tournament. For the record, I include the Indian T20 League and Champions League matches in these records since these two form a single Database.

These are the hundreds scored in the leagues’ domestic T20 matches so far. Considering that a total of 319 matches have been played, this means that a batsman has scored a century every 15 matches. McCullum’s innings of 158 in 73 balls in the very first match of the Indian T20 League in 2008 has set the standard and is yet to be overtaken. However, in the Ratings points measure, Warner’s match-winning 135 in the champions’ clash in 2011 has overtaken this innings. Warner has also another century in the same league but finished on the losing side. This is the highest losing innings ever. Four other hundreds were played, finishing on the losing side. Pathan’s 100 is the fastest hundred ever, but again did not win the match for his team. Paul Valthaty has the highest chasing score, of 120.

Listed above are the 5/6 wicket-hauls across both leagues and one other special performance. There have been nine 5-wicket hauls, leading to a frequency of 35 matches per 5-wicket performance. However there have been 47 4-wicket captures. So it looks like a century is somewhere in between a 4-wicket and 5-wicket capture. Two of these 5-wicket hauls have finished on the losing side. Kumble’s 5 for 5 is the best defensive bowling performance ever.

Now for the special performance. Sunil Narine’s 3 for 8, in the CL last year secured more Rating points than Sohail Tanvir’s 6-wicket haul. The reason was that they were defending a low total of 123 for 8, away in Chennai, against the mighty hosts. Narine’s mid-innings spell of 4-0-8-3 secured 856 Rating points. He got the wickets of Vijay, Raina and Dhoni, all for single figures.


Now for the team performances. I have listed above the team scores of 210 and above. There have been 36 instances of 200+ scores in the two leagues so far. Chennai tops the table with two scores of above 240. Surprisingly, nine of the 200+ scores have finished on the losing side. Five of these have been while chasing bigger 200+ scores. Match no 316, featured above, in last year’s CL is an instance of a team successfully chasing a total of 214. 

During the Indian T20 League this year, I will come out with some derived performance analysis.