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Comparison: Who was the Best Bowler in IPL 2020? | A statistical comparison between Archer, Bumrah, Shami and Nortje

The thirteenth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has recently been concluded after providing us so much fun and entertainment. As the IPL was in the UAE, we all had expected mostly spinners in the list of highest wicket takers. But, contrary to our expectations, there are seven fast bowlers among the top 10 wicket takers of this season. It shows how impressive the fast bowlers were in the mega event.

In this article, I have chosen five of them to compare statistically and find the most impactful in all aspects. The names are Jofra Archer, Jasprit Bumrah, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Shami and Anrich Nortje. I haven’t considered Trent Boult because he didn’t bowl that much in the middle overs and death. There are five parameters to judge these five. I will compare their performance in the:

• Powerplay
• Middle overs
• Death overs
• Number of Balls bowled to concede one boundary; and
• Number of extra runs given per innings

All the calculations are done against the top eight batters of every opposition (I haven’t taken the extra runs conceded by the bowlers into account while calculating their stats in the three phases as I have taken that as a separate parameter). So, let’s find out the best one.

1. Impact in the Powerplay

To compare their performances in the power play overs, I have considered five sub-parameters; namely wickets taken per innings bowled, bowling average, bowling strike rate, dot ball percentage and the economy rate in the PP against the top 8 batters. The best one under each sub-category will get 5 points; the second best will get 4 points and so on. I have drawn a table showing their respective stats in the PP below.

Jofra Archer reigns supreme in the four sub-parameters viz – wickets/inns, average, dot percentage and econ. rate, as well as second in terms of SR. So, he scores 24 points (5+5+4+5+5) out of 25 in the PP phase. Similarly, the points of Bumrah (4+4+5+4+4), Shami (4+3+3+3+3), Nortje (3+2+2+2+1) and Rabada (2+1+1+1+2) are 21, 16, 10 and 7 respectively in this section.

2. Impact in the Middle Overs (7-15)

Their respective numbers in the middle overs phase against the above mentioned sub-parameters are tabulated below.

From the table, it is clear that Archer was the best in three sub-parameters viz. average, dot percentage and economy rate and second best in terms of wkts/inns and SR. So, he scores 23 points (4+5+4+5+5) out of 25 in this parameter. Similarly, the respective scores of Nortje (5+3+5+4+1), Bumrah (4+4+2+3+4), Rabada (4+2+3+2+2) and Shami (3+1+1+1+3) are 18, 17, 13 and 9 points.

Also read: Who was the best uncapped Indian batsman in IPL 2020?

3. Impact in the Death Overs (16-20)

Their respective numbers in the death overs phase against the top eight batsmen alongside the above mentioned sub-parameters are tabulated below.

Rabada was the best in terms of wkts/inns, average and SR, the second best in terms of dot ball percentage and the third best in terms of economy rate takes him to 22 points (5+5+5+4+3) in this section. Similarly, the respective scores of Bumrah (3+4+3+5+5) and Jofra (1+1+1+2+2) are found to be 20 and 7 respectively, whereas Shami (4+3+4+1+1) and Nortje (2+2+2+3+4) score 13 points each in this section.

4. Balls bowled to concede one boundary (BPB)

An important attribute in T20s is how infrequently you concede boundaires. I have tabulated the total number of balls these guys have bowled to the top eight batsmen of all the teams and the number of boundaries conceded by them. The names are arranged in descending order of balls-per-boundary (BPB). The best one will get 12.5 points, the second best will get 10 points and so on in this section.

5. Extras conceded per innings

It’s always very important for a bowler to be disciplined and give away as little extra runs (wides or no balls) as possible. In my discipline parameter, I have tabulated the number of inns they have bowled and the number of extra runs given to calculate the extra runs per inns. The bowler with the least ratio will get full 12.5 points, the one having second-least ratio will get 10 points and so on. The names are arranged in the increasing order of extra runs given per innings.

A graph is plotted below showing the differences in the extra runs conceded by these five per innings.

It is very clear from the table as well as the graph that Nortje was the most disciplined bowler among these five, so he gets full 12.5 points in this section. The respective scores of Archer, Bumrah, Rabada and Shami are 10, 7.5, 5 and 2.5 in this section.

TOTAL POINTS AND OUR WINNER:

The total points obtained by each of these five bowlers are tabulated against their names below. The names are arranged in descending order of the points obtained by them.

Therefore, I find Jofra Archer to be the most impactful bowler among these five fiery fast bowlers in the IPL 2020 considering the mentioned parameters.

Do you agree? Have your say!

Written by Debashish Sarangi. Follow Debashish on Twitter today.