IPL 2022: Are Bowling-Heavy Teams Doing Better This Season?

In the ongoing IPL 2022, there has been a pattern where the top five teams in the points table are co-incidentally the best five teams to have taken the most wickets in the tournament.

It speaks a lot about the teams who are ahead in the road to playoffs.

Gujarat Titans, the current table-toppers with 14 points from eight matches, are the third-best bowling team in IPL 2022 with 54 wickets. With a ferocious bowling attack comprising pacers Mohammed Shami (13 wickets), Lockie Ferguson (nine wickets), Alzarri Joseph (four wickets) and uncapped Yash Dayal (four wickets) along with ace leg-spinner Rashid Khan (eight wickets) and captain Hardik Pandya (four wickets). They also possess the best economy rate in the last five overs of IPL 2022, at 8.5.

The team behind them at second place with 12 points, inaugural IPL champions Rajasthan Royals, have been at their rollicking best with the ball. From being in the lower half of points table in last three seasons, Rajasthan are bearing the fruits of having a highly experienced bowling attack at their disposal with 61 wickets, the most scalps taken by a team in the ongoing tournament.

Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal has been the leader of the attack, picking 18 wickets and sitting on top of the leaderboard for most scalps in the tournament. Right-arm pacer Prasidh Krishna (10 wickets), off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (seven wickets), left-arm pacer Trent Boult (seven wickets) and uncapped tearaway quick Kuldeep Sen (six wickets) have been the other standout bowlers in the side.

Sunrisers Hyderabad, just behind Rajasthan on third place at ten points, saw their five-match winning streak shattered by Titans on Wednesday. Despite the five-wicket loss, Hyderabad had a huge bowling talking point with tearaway pacer Umran Malik taking 5/25 in his four overs, mixing control, accuracy and raw pace with precision.

With 15 scalps, Malik is joint leading wicket-taker for Hyderabad alongside left-arm pacer T Natarajan. Hyderabad have also been benefited by the fact that pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar (nine wickets), tall left-arm pacer Marco Jansen (six wickets) and with off-spinner Washington Sundar returning, expect him to add more to his four scalps in IPL 2022.

Slightly behind Hyderabad on the points table due to net run rate have been Lucknow Super Giants, who have the fourth-most wickets for a team with 53 scalps. Though they missed pacer Avesh Khan (11 wickets) in their last win over Mumbai Indians, Krunal Pandya stepped up with 3/17 and took his wickets tally to seven. Jason Holder (nine scalps) has been a vital cog in the wheel so as Ravi Bishnoi (six wickets) and Dushmantha Chameera (five wickets).

Behind Lucknow and Hyderabad on net run rate, the Royal Challengers Bangalore have been the fifth-best team with the ball in IPL 2022, picking 52 wickets. For a side which has historically struggled to get their bowling attack right, the 2022 season has been a revelation for Bangalore as a bowling unit.

The acquisition of Sri Lanka leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga (13 wickets) has given a big boost in the spin department with Shahbaz Ahmed going wicketless. With pace, Josh Hazlewood and Harshal Patel (ten scalps each) have handled the department well with Mohammed Siraj (eight scalps) chipping in.

So, the formula of doing well in IPL 2022 is linked to - the more you take wickets, the better become the chances of doing well in the tournament.