Aggressive bowling mantra paid off for teams in last four

More than individual brilliance, franchises have benefited from greater focus on the sum of bowling parts

- Somshuvra Laha

KOLKATA: For all the money splurged on swashbuckling openers and doughty finishers, this IPL has again proved that T20 is still very much a bowler's game. Some teams have accepted it and amended their approach. Some are still catching up. While individual highs like Sunil Narine bagging a mean economy or Kagiso Rabada finishing as the most incisive fast bowler will make it to the season's highlights reel, they rarely influence a team's final position. For that you need the sum of combinations to be greater than their parts, something Gujarat Titans, Rajasthan Royals, Lucknow Super Giants, and Royal Challengers Bangalore achieved consistently in this IPL.

At the heart of their performances that ensured qualification to the playoffs was the determination not to let bowlers go on the defensive. Instead, they challenged the theory that stopping runs was more important than taking wickets in T20. Pacers cranked it up to unnerve batters and used the bouncer liberally while spinners were asked not to hold back from giving the ball more hang time. Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravichandran Ashwin were given the freedom to challenge batters in the slog overs, and so were Mohammed Shami, Prasidh Krishna, and Avesh Khan, even when fielding restrictions were in play. Power play run rates took a hit as a result, while some matches were turned on its head despite favorable equations for the chasing team. It had a lasting impression on the wickets column as well with GT finishing as the most successful in the first six overs with 25 wickets, RCB in the middle overs (7-16) with 49 wickets, and LSG in the final four with 29 wickets.