IPL 2022 End of Week 1: Bowlers dominated season so far

Teams were winning while chasing high scores, and the teams won by defending their low scores.

Bowlers: The new game-changers in IPL.

Considering the 12 matches played, the bowlers have ruled the game so far. The T20 league has always been dominated and known for the batters. This IPL season, we have witnessed a changing trend as losing matches have been turned into wins by the bowlers. In eight of the twelve games played, the Player of the Match award has been bagged by the bowlers. Umesh Yadav (KKR VS CSK and KKR VS PBKS), Kuldeep Yadav (DC VS MI), Mohammad Shami (LSG VS GT), Wanindu Hasaranga (KKR VS RCB), Lockie Ferguson (GT VS DC), Liam Livingstone (PBKS VS CSK) and Avesh Khan (SRH VS LSG) are the man of the match of the recently concluded game. This change in trend is a delight for bowlers, be it spinners or pacers in shorter formats, and hopefully, we will get to see many such match-winning performances by bowling arms.

Bowlers in Powerplay

In these twelve games, bowlers have performed exceptionally well to get the team a breakthrough in the form of early wickets in the powerplay. Umesh Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammad Shami, and Avesh Khan haven't left any pitch unconquered, be it a green one, an extra bounce, or a movement one. Apart from pacers, spinners might not have been the highest wicket-takers but have done a tremendous job by building pressure on batters. Spinners like Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, and Rahul Chahar have all conceded less than 7.50 runs per over with wickets this IPL.

Bowling power: Teams defending score even with the dew

After the experience from last year of IPL, teams were speculating the same conditions this year regarding the dew factor. This season, the team has decided to chase every time after winning the toss. And out of 12 matches, 7-matches were won following this trend. However, in the last 4-matches, bowlers have won the game defending the total for their team. The MCA stadium at Pune and the Wankhede Stadium at Mumbai have seen dew impact far lesser than the games at Brabourne and DY Patil. As the tournament progresses and the pitch gets used more, we might see a different trend of toss winners opting to bat first.

Team with a dominating bowling attack.

Few franchises have spent good money on setting up a solid bowling combination, that has worked perfectly so far for them. Rajasthan Royals is the only team who have won all the matches defending their total, courtesy of their lethal bowling attack. They are also probably the team with the best bowling attack this IPL. Gujarat Titans, a team without much depth and stable combination in their batting, have won all the matches because of the aggressive bowling attack. Punjab Kings won their last game against the Chennai Super Kings with exceptional bowling performance and the recently concluded match won by Lucknow Super Giants against Sunriser Hyderabad had the same dominance from the bowler that won the game for them. 

This season, it looks like a team with an in-form and aggressive bowling attack that can either defend a total or stop the opposition from getting a big total will have a better chance of winning. In all the other seasons, we saw power hitters, and this season we will see many super spells. A different taste to this 15th edition of IPL.