Gujarat Titans, Chennai Super Kings, Lucknow Super Giants and Mumbai Indians have qualified for the IPL 2023 Playoffs. Here is a team of top performers from the first 70 matches of the tournament.
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The 2023 edition has witnessed numerous records, including the most sixes and centuries in a single season, the most runs by an uncapped batter in a season, and the most 200+ totals. There have been notable bowling performances too, including a hat-trick, two five-fors, and a change of guard at the top of the all-time wicket-takers list.
Here is a team of top performers from the league stage while adhering to the four overseas players rule:
Faf du Plessis
730 runs @ 56.14, SR: 154, 8 50s, HS: 84
Even at 38 and well into unofficial international retirement, Faf is unstoppable. He finished the league stage as the leading run-getter (while striking in excess of 150), batting in consistently free-spirited fashion irrespective of RCB’s fluctuating fortunes. He went hard in the powerplay to provide several brisk starts to a brittle batting line-up. Only Virat Kohli hit as many fifty-plus scores.
Yashasvi Jaiswal
625 runs @ 48.08, SR: 164, 1 100, 5 50s, HS: 124
It wasn’t easy to pick Faf’s partner from a plethora of performing openers this time. Yashasvi shone brightly among the younger lot, bringing a consistently explosive trait that few could match in the powerplay. No one hit more fours (82) in the league stages. No one scored more runs in the powerplay (361). It’s also a nice left-right pairing.
Shubman Gill
680 runs @ 56.67, SR: 153, 2 100s, 4 50s, HS: 104*
Slight cheating here, since Gill is an opener too. But it was too difficult to keep him out, given his role in keeping the Titans at the top of the points table. It included a maiden IPL century, then a second – perfect toppings for six sensational months of batting form. The second hundred – a pristine innings in a tricky chase – knocked out RCB in front of their home crowd in Bengaluru.
Suryakumar Yadav
511 runs @ 42.58, SR: 185.14, 1 100, 4 50s, HS: 103*
Surya walked into the IPL on the back of three successive golden ducks. When he managed just 66 in his first five innings of the season, many feared that his golden touch had evaporated. And then, the SKY opened. Scores of 57, 23, 55, 66, 26, 83 and 103* followed, all but one at a strike rate of over 190. Mumbai Indians suddenly became a chasing machine, and Surya is their leading run-getter in IPL 2023.
Heinrich Klaasen (wk)
448 runs @ 49.78, SR: 177, 1 100, 2 50s, HS: 104
Not many remember Klaasen’s IPL adventures in 2018 and 2019, for he did little of note and did not get an extended run. At Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2023, he turned into a different player, rising amid his team’s unpredictability to become their best batter of the season.
He reached double digit every time and 30 on seven occasions. There was a sensational but valiant hundred that was overshadowed by Virat Kohli’s. SRH finished last on the points table with just four wins. If it weren’t for Klaasen, it would have been far worse.
Rinku Singh
474 runs @ 59.25, SR: 150, 4 50s, HS: 67*
You cannot really call him the ‘find’ of the season, because he has been around for a while. But this been a different Rinku altogether, one who has suddenly morphed into a T20 finisher par excellence.
The magical patch began with the incredible last-over assault against Gujarat – five sixes off five balls – and just kept going on. Match after match, he came up with incredible late assaults, including their last league match (67* off 33), where KKR fell a run short of a win.
Ravindra Jadeja
17 wickets @ 22.05, ER: 7.65, BBI: 3-20
153 runs @ 21.85, SR: 138
A perfect fit for the spin-bowling all-rounder’s role. Jadeja has silently done hard work in the middle overs to keep batting lineups in check at the Chepauk. All his wickets (17) came between the overs 7 to 16 – only Piyush Chawla took more among all bowlers in that phase. He hasn’t been quite his best with the bat in the limited role, but the strike rate isn’t too shabby.
Rashid Khan
24 wickets @ 18.25, ER: 7.82, BBI: 4-30
95 runs @ 47.50, SR 238
Back to his old best, if not better, Rashid Khan has been the engine of GT’s resounding success. Tied with Mohammed Shami at the top of the wicket-takers list, he conceded over 40 just once throughout the league stage. There was also a jaw-dropping, in-vain batting performance, an IPL best of 79* against Mumbai Indians that included a whopping 10 sixes.
Mohammed Shami
24 wickets @17.66, ER: 7.70, BBI: 4-11
Joint-highest on the Purple Cap list with Rashid Khan is Titans’ other wicket-taking machine. Shami took 15 wickets in the Powerplay alone, the most by anyone this season, and bowled 172 dot balls, the most among in the league. All-round excellence.
Mohammed Siraj
19 wickets @ 19.78, ER: 7.52, BBI: 4-21
Siraj was sensational with the new ball at RCB’s home ground, not an easy hunting space for most bowlers. The ball seamed around nicely, the lengths were on point. With 10 wickets in the powerplay, Siraj was key to Bangalore’s bowling success early in the innings (their 33 powerplay wickets are the most). Despite lacking support, he did a decent job at the backend too.
Matheesha Pathirana
15 wickets @ 19.33, ER: 7.56, BBI: 3-15
The find of the season for Chennai Super Kings. Every match, Pathirana had something new to offer as he quickly evolved into CSK’s go-to death bowler, quietly taking the baton from Dwayne Bravo. The yorkers have been on point, and the pace has been altered well. His 14 wickets at the death are the most by anyone and five scalps more than the next best.
