Mumbai's one chink, and the gains from batting first

Last week's column looked at teams' performances during the Powerplay overs in IPL 2010; this time, the focus is on the middle overs, which we define, for the purpose of this exercise, as the overs from seven to 14.

The first aspect that catches the eye is that the table-toppers are right at the bottom of this list. Mumbai Indians have been utterly dominant in the first six: they average 82.83 per wicket at 9.20 runs per over with the bat - well clear of any other team in both aspects - and 30.14 per wicket at 7.81 runs per over with the ball. Their exceptional display with the bat clearly allows them to ease off a bit in the middle overs, but while that could explain the relatively low run rate in that period, it still doesn't explain the loss of 29 wickets during this period, which is easily the most among all teams. Mumbai's middle-overs batting average of 18.03 is thus the lowest by far among all teams, and it demonstrates a huge reliance on Sachin Tendulkar to deliver. That aspect was highlighted in Mumbai's loss to Chennai earlier in the week, when Tendulkar's departure due to dehydration caused wickets to fall in a heap thereafter. Their batting run rate is also one run lower than their economy rate.

At the other end of the scale are Rajasthan, Bangalore and Chennai. For all three teams the middle overs have been, to varying degrees, about regaining initiative lost during the Powerplays. It's far more prominently so for Rajasthan and Chennai - their economy rates during the first six overs are 9.65 and 8.51. During the middle overs, though, they've hauled it back well - the batsmen have scored briskly without losing too many wickets and the bowlers have kept opposition teams in check.

Rajasthan's excellent run rate during these middle overs is largely due to Yusuf Pathan, who is the leading run-scorer during this period with 253 runs at a rate of more than 10 per over. Pathan has also smashed 18 sixes, easily the most, 10 clear of the second-placed Chris Gayle. Virender Sehwag has a higher strike rate than Yusuf, but most of his runs have come in the first six overs. Similarly, Matthew Hayden and Murali Vijay have been instrumental in ensuring Chennai's runs have come at a quick rate during the middle overs, while Robin Uthappa and Virat Kohli have done a similar job for Bangalore.

Not surprisingly, there isn't anyone from Mumbai in the list below. Their best performer during these overs has been Saurabh Tiwary, with 177 runs at an average of 35.40 and a run rate of 7.64, while Tendulkar's stats can't be faulted, as he has already done plenty of damage by the time he reaches the middle overs, in which he's scored 111 runs at a rate of 6.93 per over. However, Mumbai have been let down so far by some of the others, especially their two West Indian imports: Dwayne Bravo has scored 14 runs in 19 balls and been dismissed four times (average 3.50, run rate 4.42), while Kieron Pollard has scored 36 at a run a ball and been dismissed thrice (average 12, run rate 6). Ambati Rayudu too has only scored at a rate of 6.78 for his 78 runs.

Among the bowling sides, Bangalore and Deccan are the ones with the best economy rates, which is why it isn't much of a surprise to see Andrew Symonds and Anil Kumble lead the list below. Those two, along with the impressive Murali Kartik of Kolkata, are the only ones who have an economy rate of less than six.

On the other hand Punjab have the worst economy rate in the middle overs - so that's another area where they're lagging behind - while Mumbai have been pretty generous as well. Ravi Bopara (87 runs from nine overs) and Irfan Pathan (64 from seven) have been among the guilty ones for Punjab, but even those figures look like the epitome of economy when compared to Sreesanth's stats - 41 runs from 12 balls, or an "economy"s rate of 20.50 runs per over. Bravo has leaked 133 runs in 90 balls for Mumbai (8.86 runs per over), while Pollard has gone at 8.18. Mumbai have also been hurt by the profligacy of the lesser known players: Ali Murtaza, R Sathish and Abu Nechim have all gone at more than 12 runs per over.

One trend that's clearly been established during this tournament is that it's better to be batting first and setting targets than batting second and trying to achieve them. In the 38 matches so far that have produced definite results (excluding the Deccan-Punjab tie that was decided by the Super Over), teams batting first have won 23 times.

All teams except one have won more games batting first than chasing. The only exceptions are Bangalore, for whom four out of five wins have come batting second. (Punjab have a win batting second too, but they've generally been so awful it's hard to tell what their strength is.) Mumbai and Chennai have won almost equally batting first and second, but Deccan and Kolkata clearly prefer batting first: all three of Deccan's wins have come in that fashion, while four out of Kolkata's five wins came from successfully defending their totals. Delhi won twice when chasing, but in each game in their run of four successive wins (which was broken by Kolkata on Wednesday) they batted first.

Team wins batting first and chasing

Team	Matches	Wins*	Won batting first	Won batting second
Mumbai Indians	9	7	4	3
Delhi Daredevils	10	6	4	2
Rajasthan Royals	11	6	4	2
Royal Challengers Bangalore	9	5	1	4
Chennai Super Kings	10	5	3	2
Kolkata Knight Riders	10	5	4	1
Deccan Chargers	9	3	3	0
Kings XI Punjab	10	1	0	1
Total	39	38	23	15

* Excludes the Super Over result in the match between Punjab and Chennai.