IPL 2022 | MI vs LSG - Indepth Analysis of the impactful performers

Mumbai Indians have 8 losses on a trot in the 2022 season of the IPL, which is the most losses among all teams in their first 8 matches. They did well to restrict Lucknow to 168 on a decent batting surface, but they couldn’t limit KL Rahul from scoring his second century against them this season. 

Mumbai had a much better start in the powerplay due to the quick fiery start from Rohit Sharma (39 of 31 balls). But ever since then, they never got going and rarely found boundaries in the middle overs. 

It was a big ask in the death overs, and Pollard never really got going in this match. Tilak Varma was the lone aggressor in the middle overs and struck at close to 141. But a massive credit to Lucknow’s bowlers for conceding only 22 runs in the death overs with some accurate bowling.

Let us have an in-depth look at the best performers of the match.

Dushmantha Chameera (4 overs, 14 runs)

The reason for the inclusion of Chameera as an impactful player is due to his tight bowling. He might not have picked up a wicket, but he induced a lot of pressure on the batter, which ultimately resulted in other bowlers picking up wickets. Let us have a look at his line-length split. 

One of the most significant advantages of Chameera is that he not only clicks in the 140 kph range but also bowls tight lines and lengths. Here we can see that he hasn’t bowled any deliveries outside the leg stump and has bowled just a single full toss in the innings. Instead, he used a lot of short balls in this innings, which troubled Ishan Kishan early up and ultimately led to his wicket when he went for the big shot. He also bowled close to 46 per cent of his deliveries in the good length zone and cramped up room for the batter to go for the big shots.

Mohsin Khan (4 overs, 27 runs, 1 wicket)

Another one of those bowlers who didn’t get many wickets but kept it tight with the ball was the young and dynamic Mohsin Khan. He started off his first over with tight lengths but was inaccurate with his lines as he leaked 6 runs in wides and conceded a boundary as well. 

He then came back in the 7th over and banged the deliveries short with a good pace. This ultimately led to the prized wicket of Dewald Brevis, who could have changed the tempo of the game if he stayed longer. 

The left-arm pacer also bowled brilliantly in the 14th and 16th overs, where he kept his lengths simple (Good and short) and persisted with the ‘outside off stump’ line.

He also induced false shorts among batters with his fierce short bowling, which is proven by his good false short percentage value of 37.5.

KL Rahul 103(62)

Rahul has put on another absolute masterful batting display and stood throughout the 20 overs of the innings.

So here, we can see that Rahul had adjusted perfectly to multiple varieties of lines and lengths. He has respected those deliveries that are just outside off stump and middle stump on a good length since that is a risky zone for a batter to attempt the big shots. KL has also moved across the crease very well while playing shots off the short length deliveries and his attacking instinct proves this to that type of length. His usual arc for the aggressive shots is fuller length deliveries, and he has utilized it perfectly to his advantage.

Now, we shall have a look at his Wagon wheel data which gives us an idea of his scoring zones.

So here we can see that his primary scoring has been through the mid-wicket and cover regions. If we compare it to the previous line-length split, we can see that he has put away the fuller length deliveries on the off-stump to the covers region and the short length deliveries to the mid-wicket and square leg regions. He also scored over 19 per cent of his runs down the ground towards the on and off region of the ground. Most of those wide-out-off stump deliveries were played either to the covers region or slashed to the point region where he has scored close to 11 per cent of his total runs.

Let us also have a look at his individual phase-wise analysis.

The best part about Rahul's innings is the way he paces an innings, and he is arguably the best strike rotation batter in IPL. But with Quinton de Kock getting out earlier, KL shifted gears after the 30th delivery and started to strike at a colossal 230 with just a single dot ball in that phase. He continued to maintain a similar composure in the succeeding 10 balls of his innings(between 41st to 50th), where he struck at an even better 240 while facing only a single dot ball. Again, his counter-attacking approach helped Lucknow get to a fighting total.