Indian Premier League (IPL)’s 13th edition is underway with much hype among the fans. Originally scheduled to begin on 29 March 2020, after a lot of speculations on the season being cancelled, a revised schedule was announced. The Indian government have permission for the tournament to be conducted in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
IPL 2020 opened with a match between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians on 19 September. A new set of rules and regulations that favours in avoiding a Covid-19 breakout have been established. While the clamour on the stadium is different owing to the pandemic situation, social media is abuzz with activity.
As cricket enthusiasts place bets on who will own the trophy in UAE this year, take a look at the factors that are behind the winning team’s victory.
The game of spending
Did you know that the IPL is the biggest tournament in terms of the finances involved?
With the bidding for the top players, match tickets, and huge advertisements by brands, a lot of money is involved in the whole tournament.
‘True’ IPL fans are eager about the auction as much as they are in the game itself. Indian players like Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni often steals the show with more than 2 million US dollars flowing into their pockets.
However, the most expensive team need not win the IPL finals or even make it till there. The data regarding the last 12 seasons of IPL tells us that the team which has had the most expensive squad has never won the tournament.
The youth and the experienced
The key to any good cricket team would be finding that balance between the new batch of players with high energy and the experience from elder players. Most experienced players do not make it to the squad at a higher rate in the auction unless they have a legacy. This could be very well explained in M S Dhoni’s case.
Other veterans on the field in IPL 2020 are Shane Watson, Chris Gayle, Harbhajan Singh, and Imran Tahir. Imran Tahir is the oldest of the batch, being 41 years old while sporting the Chennai Super Kings jersey.
International quality
The key point to note in IPL games are the victory will mostly be with a balanced team. This is why spending itself sometimes does not matter. A team should have players that match the international level of the game.
This too is evident if one looks at last 12 seasons of IPL. the champions have almost always (except once) had 15 international-level players. This helped them boost the quality of the game with both experience and team coordination.
Champions that proved the criteria
The IPL trend of auctioning the players is often followed by much hype as the fans discuss the possibilities of victory for their favourite teams. If one looks at the factors that have been discussed here, it is based on the winning trend of the last 12 seasons.
The Insider figured out the most prominent display of these factors and exclusions. The key factors are:
- Rajasthan Royals is the only team, which managed to take the trophy home in spite of having less than 15 international-level players.
- Rajasthan Royals is also the sole champion to win in spite of being a team with an average age less than 25.
- No team has won the tournament with their average age exceeding 30.
- This year, Mumbai Indians is the most expensive team while Chennai Super Kings has the most number of players that are experienced and older.
The (expected) winner of IPL 2020
The above-mentioned parameters contribute heavily to the IPL champion, but the game is highly unpredictable. So, who has better chances of winning this time?
Royal Challengers Bangalore who has never been an IPL champion before has the most chances to win this time, as per the criteria discussed. However, one should note that criteria itself are a compilation of previous IPL tournaments. The trend might continue but sports cannot be predicted in its essence.
One can hope the best team will win regardless with the combination of strategies and brilliant gameplay IPLs usually consist of!
Some of the data used in the is article was taken from Betway IPL.
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