Consistency in the starting eleven was a key factor in Mumbai Indians’ success in the recently-concluded Indian Premier League (IPL) in the United Arab Emirates, a study has found.

Preliminary studies of the upcoming GloFans Cri Metrics’ White Paper tried to figure out what differentiated Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings (CSK), who came into the season as defending champions and runners-up respectively.

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Both the teams were favourites to go all the way at the start of the 13th season. While Mumbai Indians justified their top billing, CSK ended up in the lower half of the points table, failing to qualify for the knockouts for the first time.

‘GloFans Cric Data Metrics’ has analysed 14,007 legalised deliveries bowled during the IPL 2020. Each delivery is decoded on 40 different parameters, by using copyright tools of GloFansCric Data Metrics. The in-depth study for the White Paper on the IPL 2020 is based on the analysis of 5,60,280 different metrics.

The preliminary studies of the 560,280 metrics highlight the curve that puts champions Mumbai Indians clearly above the rest. Incidentally, it was a fall in the same area that led to a severe downfall in the performance of last year’s losing finalists Chennai Super Kings.

Consistency of No.3 to No.5 positions in the batting order became the deciding factor. Mumbai Indians during the course of the tournament had Suryakumar Yadav in one down position. Mumbai Indians went for only three options, each in the fourth and the fifth positions. In contrast, CSK could never have a settled unit in the absence of Suresh Raina, who had pulled out of the IPL citing “personal reasons”.

Similarly, Mumbai Indians explored only three options in the No.4 position, more based on the match situation than any other compulsion. CSK, on the other hand, had to try six different batsmen across 12 innings. The difference is here to see. MI aggregated 437 runs in the No.4 position at 144.22 while CSK’s aggregate from their No.4 batsmen was a mere 259 at 118.81 strike rate.

Rohit Sharma led Mumbai Indians to their fifth IPL glory with a 5-wicket victory over Delhi Capitals in the final of the 2020 edition of the tournament in Dubai.

Chasing Delhi’s total of 156/7, Rohit smashed 68 runs off 51 balls. He got generous support from Quinton de Kock (20 off 12) and Ishan Kishan (33 off 19) with whom he shared partnerships of 45 runs and 47 runs respectively. Suryakumar Yadav (19 off 20) was also a part of a 45-run stand with Rohit.

Batting in their first-ever IPL final, Delhi Capitals were off to a poor start. They were reduced to 22/3 inside just five overs. However, a 96-run partnership between captain Shreyas Iyer (65 off 50) and Rishabh Pant (56 off 38) ensured a healthy total for their team.

With IANS inputs