T20 Internationals - an analytical review
A detailed analysis of the Twenty20 internationals played so far

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Given below are some interesting facts. Detailed tables for these can be viewed using Cricinfo's Statistics section.
1. McCullum is the leading run-scorer with 582 runs.
2. Symonds has the highest strike rate amongst batsman who have scored 100 runs. He has a strike rate of 169.35 while scoring 337 runs.
3. Jayasuriya has secured 5 MOM awards.
4. Umar Gul has captured the maximum wickets, 24 in all.
5. Ray Price (Zimbabwe) has the best economy rates among bowlers who have bowled 10 overs. His economy rate is 3.25.
6. Gayle is the only batsman to have scored a century. His score was 117.
7. Yuvraj's innings of 58 in 16 balls is the fastest in T20s.
8. Gillespie (New Zealand) has the best bowling figures, 2.5-0-7-4.
9. Cusack (Ireland) has the most accurate bowling analysis in T20s, 3.0-1-3-2.
10. Anderson (England) has the most expensive bowling T20 bowling spell ever, 4-0-64-1.
11. Sri Lanka has scored the highest total in T20s, 260 against Kenya.
12. Kenya, in addition to above, also has the lowest innings total against Ireland, a paltry 67.
13. South Africa chased a total of 205 made by West Indies.
14. Ireland defended a total of 43 (9 overs) against Bermuda.
For the 2007 World Cup, the significant top performers are listed below.
1. The maximum runs were scored by Hayden with 265.
2. The best Runs per Innings figure was Hayden's 44.17 in 6 innings, including 4 x 50s.
3. The best strike rate was Yuvraj Singh's 1.947 (148 runs in 76 balls).
4. Umar Gul captured the maximum wickets, having accounted for 13 dismissals.
5. The best bowling average was achieved by Chigumbura of Zimbabwe who captured 7 wickets at 7.29.
6. Vettori bowled most economically with a RPO figure of 5.33 in 24 overs.
2. A re-look at the Par Score
Sometime back I had a look at the Par Score for T20s in which I had suggested a Par Score as 165. I had increased this to 170+ for the sub-continent. I have looked at this again, only for the 25 matches of the World Cup. Looking at the 12 teams which scored 160 and above, 8 teams won defending such totals while 4 totals were chased successfully. This gives a very reasonable 66.7% winning chance and 160 can very well be taken as a Par Score for this World Cup, which will be played in England. On the other hand, increasing the Par Score to 165 gives the teams a chance to win in 7 out of 8 (87.5%). So I would say that the Par Score should be between 160-165. 160 should be sufficient, the few extra runs increase the chances of winning significantly.
3. T20-Intls: Analysis of 20-over runs conceded and wickets captured
Ov Num Runs Max Avge SD SEM Wkts Avge SD SEM # Overs
a. There is a spurt in the second over, indicating that the first over was used to get the bearings. There is marked spurt in the 5th over, possibly because the batsmen take couple of overs to familiarize themselves and cut loose in anticipation of the removal of the fielding restrictions.
b. There seems to be no significant change between the 10th and 11th over since there is no artificial commercial break after the 10th over.
c. There seems to be a steady move in the later overs. However the 14th over shows an unexpected dip. Why, I cannot tell.
d. There is a major move in wickets lost between 5th and 6th overs, a clear case of batsmen chancing their arms. The significant increase in the 20th over is again understandable.
4. T20-Intls: Comparison of 20-over figures between First and Second inns
Ovr First Innings Second Innings First Inns Second Inns # Runs Runs Wkts Wkts
a. The first real difference comes in the 2nd over. For some strange reason the chasing teams have averaged 25% more than the first batting teams. Why, I cannot put my fingers on one reason.
b. Similar in the 5th over where contrary to what I would have expected, the chasing teams have outscored the first batting teams. Possibly the uncertainty of the first innings caused this. For the first 6 overs, the chasing team has an additional 2 runs (45+ against 43+). No great difference.
c. The rest of the stats show usual fluctuations other than the 19th over where the first batting team is over a run ahead of the chasing team. Yuvraj Singh's 36-run over has contributed 0.3 of this run.
d. There is no great difference in average wickets other than the over 3 (chasing team 30% more), over 10 (first batting team nearly double of chasing team) and over 19 (first batting team 35% more). The later is explainable what with the batsmen throwing their bats around in the first innings and slowing down nearing the target in the second. In addition, it is also possible that the matches are won or lost by the 19th over.
5. T20-Intls: Comparison of 20-over figures between T20s and IPL
Ov T20-Interntionals IPL-2009 matches T20-Intls IPL-2009 # Runs Runs Wkts Wkts
a. The IPL matches have a slightly higher run-rate as well as slightly lower wickets per over also. Possibly the better quality of players?
b. Not so surprisingly the T20 and IPL have almost similar values barring one over, the 18th. IPL rate is ahead by 20%. Over 10, which had a greater significance for IPL than T20s, there is no variance at all.
c. The two opening overs have shown a much higher quantum of wickets being captured. Understandable since IPL was played in South Africa while the T20s have been played in batsmen-friendly pitches across the world. There seems to be a greater number of wickets in the 6th over in T20s than IPL indicating that in the T20s teams have opted for steadier starts but have tried to speed up just before the fielding restrictions end.
6. T20-Intls: 10 over scores - runs scored
SNo. I MtId Year Team 10Overs Final score vs %adv Rns Rslt
a. There have been quite a few instances of teams having reached 100 runs during the first 10 overs, 11 to be precise. This has been distributed over a number of teams, Pakistan and England excepted.
b. Not all teams have taken advantage of this great start. Australia and Sri Lanka have capitalized on the start very well. Couple of teams who crossed 100 in 10 overs have also lost.
c. A few teams have scored fewer than 40 runs in the first 10 overs and have lost. The only exception is the Ireland which, however, was chasing only a paltry total of 67 by Kenya.
7. T20-Intls: 10 over scores - % of runs advanced in second 10 overs
SNo. I MtId Year Team 10Overs Final score vs %adv Rns Rslt
a. India tripled their score at the 10-over mark, and won. They also added 128 runs against the quality Australian attack. Sri Lanka have scored the maximum number of runs during the second 10 overs, battering the hapless Kenyans to the tune of 159 runs (yes, a rate of 15.9 rpo).
8. T20-Intls: T20 Batting Index (Min 5 batting innings)
No Batsman Ctry Inns Runs R/Inns StRt BatIdx
This is a measure which encompasses in a single number the two significant characteristics of T20 batting, (viz), the runs scored and the strike rate. In order to take away the effects of not outs, in any case Batting average in T20 is a non-starter, only Runs per Innings is used. A minimum of 5 batting innings are used to select batsmen.
The measure is a product of the Runs/Innings figure by Strike Rate. This is an excellent measure to determine the batsman's contribution. Longevity does not come into the picture at all.
Gayle, with a Runs/Inns figure of 37.29 and strike rate of 1.611 has an excellent Bat index value of 60.07 and leads by a good margin against the new sensation from Australia, David warner, who has figures of 35.4 and 1.553 leading to 54.96. Third is the incomparable Andrew Symonds, with figures of 34.10 and 1.543, getting a Bat index of 52.62.
The unheralded Masakadza, playing for an unfancied team is the surprising presence at no.4, with an excellent Bat index value of over 50. Yuvraj Singh is the leading Indian and Misbah-ul-Haq, the leading Pakistani batsmen.
9. T20-Intls: % of boundaries in an innings (innings minimum - 50 runs)
No MtId Year Player Name For Runs Balls S/R 4-6s % vs
The maximum runs in boundaries in an innings is by Gayle who scored 88 runs off his score of 117 in boundaries. Unfortunately West Indies lost the match.
10. T20-Intls: Overs in which 20 or more runs were conceded
No MtId Year I Bowler Name For Vs O % of Tot Max
b. New Zealand batsmen have done this 9 times, followed by South Africa 7 times and Australia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and India 6 times each.
c. Australia and New Zealand bowlers have conceded 20 or more runs 8 times while England bowlers 6 times.
d. The Indian batting and England bowling stints converged in the 36-run over essayed by Yuvraj Singh against Broad during the T20 World Cup 2007. The irony is that Yuvraj himself was hit for 25 runs by Oram/McMillan.
e. Hopes, Ashraful, Shahadat Hossain and Sreesanth have conceded 20 or more runs twice in T20 matches.
f. Johnson's 25 run constituted 24.5% of the opposing team total. However this was while a low Australian total was being chased by West Indies, in less than 10 overs. In a complete 19-20 over match, the highest % of runs conceded was in the Symonds over to New Zealand (24 out of 132, but Australia won) and the amazing 36 over bowled by Broad (36 out of 218).
11. T20-Intls: Analysis of maidens bowled
No Bowler Ctry Mat Overs Mdns % Mdns M/M
b. Ray Price of Zimbabwe has the best record of maiden frequency with 18.75%, followed by J.D.Nel of Scotland (15.8%) and Gillespie of New Zealand with 8.5%. c. The highest number of runs conceded in the 20th over is 21 while the highest number of runs conceded in the first over is 19.
c. In T20s a total of 50 maidens were bowled out of 3238 overs making the frequency at one every 65 matches. Contrast this with the IPL figures of 21 maidens out of 2179 overs, working out to a much lower frequency of a maiden every 104 matches. Possibly due to the higher quality of batsmen present.
Anantha Narayanan has written for ESPNcricinfo and CastrolCricket and worked with a number of companies on their cricket performance ratings-related systems