DO SPINNERS MATTER IN THE POWERPLAY OF TWENTY20 (T20) CRICKET? EVIDENCE FROM IPL

Article Type

Research Article

Publication Title

Sport Science

Abstract

In limited overs cricket, powerplays provide the batting team an opportunity to maximise their chances of scoring runs. Traditionally, powerplay bowling has been dominated by pace bowlers (pacers). However, with the advent of the Indian Premier League (IPL), powerplays in T20 cricket are witnessing the rise of the introduction of spin bowlers (spinners) even as early as asking them to open the bowling. The same used to be a rarity. This paradigm shift in the captains’ thought process to ask the spinners to have a lion’s share in the powerplay bowling encourages us to think whether the spinners are in fact contributing better than the pacers during the powerplays. In our work, we have compared the performance of the spinners and the pacers when they bowl during the powerplays. Our analysis revolves around the T20 games played in the Indian Premier League (IPL) from 2008 to 2020. We found that the performance of the spinners is indeed better than the pacers in terms of better Economy Rate. Further, when a team is defending a total, spinners have shown better Bowling Average, Economy Rate, and a combined metric called the Combined Bowling Rate.

First Page

18

Last Page

22

Publication Date

1-1-2022

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