IPL 2019 Preview: How Important is Having Players on the Runs and Wickets Leaderboard?

By: Chinmay Vaidya

We've seen the orange and purple caps in the IPL designating the leading run scorer and wicket taker for the tournament, respectively. These caps serve as a live tracker for which players are putting together fantastic campaigns. But how important is it for team success to have players on the runs and wickets leaderboard?

I tracked all the playoff teams in the history of the IPL to see the potential impact of a player scoring the most runs or taking the most wickets.

METHODOLOGY

For the sake of keeping things relatively simple, I looked at the top 10 run scorers and top 10 wicket takers in each season. I then checked how many of these players were on the four playoff teams from that season. I also looked at how many players were on the eventual champion.

A on the IPL: the competition is incredibly tight. Every team has a chance of winning the league, despite past seasons. There's natural regression to the mean, which we'll get to in a different article. Since the talent pool is fairly evenly distributed, the importance of having a standout performer should lift a team. The question is whether one top 10 performer is enough.

In the first IPL season, the importance of having players on the leaderboard was clear. Eight of the top 10 run scorers were on the four playoff teams and the entire top 10 wicket leaderboard was in the postseason. The Rajasthan Royals, who won the inaugural tournament, featured three top-10 run scorers and three top-10 wicket takers. That's six of the top performers from the season on one team.

In the next two seasons, there was a similar trend. In 2009 and 2010, seven of the top 10 run scorers were on playoff teams. Six and nine of the top 10 wicket takers were on playoff teams in those respective seasons. The 2009 champion Deccan Chargers featured three top-10 run scorers and two top-10 wicket takers. Chennai Super Kings, who won the league in 2010, featured two top-10 run scorers and one top-10 wicket taker. The following season, CSK won the league again. This time, the franchise had three top-10 run scorers and two top-10 wicket takers.

Since then, we've seen teams succeed without necessarily having those top performers. Here's a look at the data from the next three seasons showcasing how little of an impact individual greatness had on team success.

2012
Top-10 Run Scorers in Playoffs: 5
Top-10 Wicket Takers in Playoffs: 5
Combined Top-10 players on championship team: 3

2013
Top-10 Run Scorers in Playoffs: 6
Top-10 Wicket Takers in Playoffs: 3
Combined Top-10 players on championship team: 2

2014
Top-10 Run Scorers in Playoffs: 5
Top-10 Wicket Takers in Playoffs: 8
Combined Top-10 players on championship team: 3

In 2015, Mumbai Indians had five combined top-10 players. This was the first championship team since 2011 to have at least five top-10 players. This was just a one-year phenomenon. The importance of statistical leaders on team success has continued to follow the trends we saw from 2012-14 in the last three seasons. The Indians won the league again in 2017 featuring just two top-10 players, both on the wicket leaderboard.

On average, there are 12 top-10 players in the playoff among the four teams. Six are on the runs leaderboard and six are on the wickets leaderboard. The championship team, on average, has four of these 12 players. Two are on the runs leaderboard and two are on the wickets leaderboard. We've yet to see a champion win with zero top-10 players and statistically, it seems very unlikely. The players on the leaderboard usually propel their respective teams to the playoffs, but the numbers show one such player is usually not enough to win the title.