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LONDON: The final five overs of a T20 match is the zone of madness. This is where batters are swinging away with no regard to anything, an adrenalin storm of balls flying every which way. Spare a thought for the bowlers who put themselves into this battle and back themselves to try and stop the mayhem. Some, like Thangarasu Natarajan, firing in yorker after yorker at the death, even do it with a smile. No wonder he was the find of the 2020 IPL. We looked at all 16 bowlers to deliver 120+ balls in IPL death overs across the last two seasons to find out who is the deadliest at the death.
Unplayable Bumrah
The most important feature for a death bowler is straightforward—stop runs, at any cost. It shouldn’t shock anyone that the best bowler in this regard, the man in possession of the lowest death over economy in the last two seasons of IPL, is Jasprit Bumrah. His economy in this time, 7.8rpo, is staggering given the quality of the batsmen he is faced with in this phase and the intent they are equipped with. What may be slightly more shocking is that in second place is the South African Chris Morris, with an economy of 8.1rpo. Plenty of smugness was shown over the idea Rajasthan Royals would pay so much money for the services of Morris (₹16.25 crore), given his lack of stature in the international game and frankly his lack of ‘sexiness’ as a player, but his record is immense. Another man who may surprise readers is ranked third—Sandeep Sharma. The Sunrisers Hyderabad seamer has gone at just 8.3rpo in the last two seasons of death overs in IPL, usurping even his more lauded teammate Bhuvneshwar Kumar as the primary death bowler for the franchise.
Surprising Sharma
Of course, if your team is already doing well in the game and is defending a hefty total, then the most important element of your death bowling is not just keeping the runs down, but trying to eliminate the boundaries. The best bowler in this regard is Sandeep Sharma— just 13% of his deliveries at the death in the last two seasons have gone to the fence. Ranked second is, unsurprisingly, Bumrah, with 16%.
At CricViz, we have a measure which tries to judge a player’s effect on the game, which looks at both run-saving and wicket-taking, with greater context. Bowling Impact looks at the effect a bowler has on the innings score, above or below what we’d expect the average bowler to do while playing in the same matches. Positive is good; negative is bad.
According to Bowling Impact, the best death bowler in the IPL is Bumrah—surprise surprise. His Average Bowling Impact at the death over the last two seasons is +4.4, well clear of the nearest contender. That contender, Morris, recorded an Average Bowling Impact of +2.5, further underlining his excellence in this phase. In third, fellow South African Kagiso Rabada follows Morris, with a figure of +1.8. Rabada’s effectiveness at the death is boosted significantly by his remarkable wicket-taking record, his strike rate of 7.1 almost absurd given the quality of opposition.
There’s no question as to who the best death bowler in IPL is. It’s the same as the best death bowler in the world full stop Bumrah, and frankly it’s not even close. His ability to operate in every phase has been clear throughout our analysis in this series, but the death is where he comes alive.