Which IPL Team has the strongest bowling line-up in 2022?

I've gone into detail about the relative strenghts and weaknesses at either end of the innings of each IPL franchise's batting line-ups and so in this blog we'll be looking more generally at how the teams are stacking up in regards their bowling options.

source

As always, the stats below come from my own database and are based on T20 matches played since 2020.

Best powerplay bowlers in IPL 2022

I'll start off by looking at the options that each side possesses in the powerplay. Wicket taking in the powerplay is absolutely key to any side hoping to make the later stages of the tournament so our first chart shows the bowlers who have the best strike rate in those first 6 overs (min 100 balls bowled)

best strike rate in the powerplay, min. 100 balls bowled since 2020

The names that really stand out from the above chart are 3 pace bowlers who have had recent success in the IPL in Lockie Ferguson, Arshdeep Singh and Josh Hazlewood.

Ferguson has been a potent wicket taker throughout the innings (see below) and in fact was used more as middle overs enforcer and death bowler by KKR last year although as the stats above show he can be equally effective in the powerplay.

I think with GT's other bowling options, Ferguson is likely to play a big role in the powerplay this time around. Mohammed Shami has a decent record in the powerplay but perhaps has been as impactful as both his franchise and country would hope (12 wickets at an average of 44, S/R 37).

There after, GT will be relying on youngsters or potentially one of the West Indian pair of Dominic Drakes or Alzarri Joseph to support Ferguson and Shami although their inclusion will be dependant on how they balance the team and fill their quota of 4 overseas players.

If I were an Indian selector, I would have taken Arshdeep Singh to the World Cup last year. Firstly, his left arm action would have offered them something different but its his control and ability at both ends of the innings that really impresses me.

PBKS will also be able to draw upon the raw pace and wicket taking ability of Kagiso Rabada who himself has a strike rate of 27 during the powerplay over the last couple of years plus they have a variety of other options ....

Sandeep Sharma is an out and out swing bowler and on his day in the right conditions is a real handful while PBKS also have a variety of bowling all-rounders to choose from including Nathan Ellis, Benny Howell and Odean Smith. All 3 are probably better suited to roles later in the innings but alongside their strong spin options it does mean that PBKS can be confident of giving the likes of Rabada and Arshdeep a couple of overs each in the powerplay without leaving themselves short later on.

Finally, Josh Hazlewood is a player who until recently has played very little T20 cricket and has perhaps been pigeon holed as a red-ball specialist. However, he was a key player in CSK's title win last year not to mention Australia's World Cup victory too.

In fact, in regards to specialist powerplay options RCB have probably got the strongest squad in this year's IPL with Jason Berendorff and David Willey also very capable of doing damage in the first 6 overs not to mention Mohammed Siraj who lead the attack for them last year.

Mumbai Indians while not having any individual bowler featuring in the top 10 above have plenty of options to support Jasprit Bumrah who is their trump card throughout the innings. Daniel Sams, Riley Meredith and Tymal Mills could all provide penetration up front and of course next year MI will be able to call upon Jofra Archer which is a frightening prospect!

Dehli Capitals have lost a couple of their primary weapons in the powerplay last year including Avesh Khan, Chris Woakes and Rabada but they have retained fellow South African Nortje who was excellent for them last year.

To fill those gaps they have also brought in Mustafizur Rahman, Ngidi, Thakur and Sakariya. The later had a break through season with Rajasthan last year but in fact his powerplay record is pretty poor (3 wickets at an average of 60, S/R 50) and something he'll be keen to improve.

Elsewhere there is not much to choose between the sides with the exception of CSK whose options were perhaps already looking limited before the injury sustained by Deepak Chahar and who now have serious problems in this depart with the seamer likely to miss the entire tournament.

Adam Milne will have to shoulder a large part of the wicket taking responsibility in Chahar's absence while CSK will otherwise be reliant on a couple of less experienced players including Tushar Deshpande who at least has the advantage of being able to play on his home tracks in Mumbai for much of the tournament.

Best death bowlers in IPL 2022

From a statistical point of view, it's quite difficult to judge who the best death bowlers are. You'd expect them to take wickets given the nature of that phase of the game and you'd also expect them to go for runs. At least for the purposes of assessing the best individual bowler at the close of the innings, I'm therefore going to stick with those who have the lowest economy rate at the death.

best economy rate at the death, min 80 balls bowled

Anyone going at under 9 an over at the death is very good but for Bumrah to be conceding under 8 from the 50+ overs he's bowled at the death in the last couple of year is just freakish. With Tymal Mills up their sleeves as well then MI look like they have plenty of death over options but perhaps the bigger question for them is how they will take wickets up front and during the middle period (see below).

Again, we see how effective Lockie Ferguson is across the innings as a whole with Anrich Nortje and Josh Hazlewood similarly having an impact at both start and finish. With RCB in particular when you add the ever impressive Harshal Patel into the equation then you'd fancy that on paper at least, Bangalore have the most rounded pace attack in the tournament this year not to mention some good spin options as we'll see later.

For CSK again, we see how much they'll miss Chahar and with Shardul Thakur also having moved onto Dehli Capitals a lot will rest on the evergreen Dwayne Bravo and his multitude of change ups late in the innings if CSK are to have any hope of defending their title.

Overall, again not a huge amount to choose between sides when we spread the analysis over all squads as a whole. Probably the team that will be most concerned about their options at the death will again be Sunrisers Hyderabad who as with other parts of their team, will be hoping for their youngsters to come good.

Another key performer for SRH at the death in recent years has been Natarajan but the left-armer who bowls some good change-ups and has an accurate yorker was, like many of his teammates, off the boil last season and the men in orange will be looking to him to rediscover the kind of form from 2 years ago that got him into the India squad.

Spin Options

Finally let's have a look at each squad's spin options for the tournament and begin again by looking at the apparent problems that SRH have in that department.

Sunrisers will be banking on home grown talent when it comes to their bowling options with Washington Sundar and Shreyas Gopal joining Abhishek Sharma. It means that SRH have all bases covered in terms of spin and angle but at the same time and as demonstrated in the chart above, they perhaps lack a bit of x-factor and wicket taking ability in those middle overs.

Despite the stats above not looking great for LSG, they do have young Ravi Bishnoi in their side and the experienced Krunal Pandya. Pandya of course is not much of a wicket taker and in fact has snared just 12 victims in T20 cricket since 2020 so in as far as making things happen in the middle overs LSG will be reliant on the wrist spinner.

Elsewhere I think the 2 franchises who will have ambitions of winning the IPL but have big question marks over their spin departments are Delhi Capitals and Mumbai Indians.

DC do have the ever reliable Axar Patel in their team. With an economy of just over a run a ball from all T20 cricket over the last couple of years then he certainly offers stability and is able to bowl throughout the innings.

Thereafter, they seem to be banking on Kuldeep Yadav finally re-finding the form that at a few years ago made him one of the most dangerous wrist spinners in world cricket. A lot of the criticism of Kuldeep is that he has been bowling too slowly so you can imagine that batsmen across the IPL will be testing not only his technique but his mental state by going after him early on.

As for MI, they have brought back wrist spinner Mayank Markande who had a great 2018 season but thereafter seems to have gone missing in action. He comes into the IPL off the back of some decent form in the Vijay Hazare tournament but does he have enough to propel them back into the playoffs?

Otherwise as far as wrist spinners go, MI could opt to play the experienced Murugan Ashwin who has certainly played at his fair share of franchises without ever really making a significant and consistent impact. They also have Fabian Allen at their disposal but much like Ashwin, he seems to be a perennial squad player who has a lot to prove with ball in hand at this level.

Elsewhere, GT have signed Rashid Khan, the premier leg-spin bowler in T20 cricket and also shelled out a hefty sum for Rahul Tewatia. What's interesting is that they really don't have any part-time options just to potentially change things up a bit and assuming that Hardik Pandya won't be bowling much again then it does perhaps leave them a little short especially if a bowler has an off day or the opposition targets one of their main options.

KKR will again be strong in the slow bowling stakes with Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine continuing to lead the line in that regard while Rajasthan Royals have completely overhauled their spin options by bringing in the highly experienced pairing of Ravi Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal,

Similarly PBKS have a nice balance to their spin options with Rahul Chahar being their primary weapon ably supported by Harpreet Brar's left armers and Liam Livingstone's mix of leg-spin and off-spin. In fact, Livingstone is fast developing into one of the premier all-round cricketers in the T20 game when you consider that he has taken 40 wickets since the start of 2020 at an average of 25, S/R of 19 and economy of 7.9, the kind of figures that a frontline bowler would be happy with.

Finally then we come to RCB who have an equally effective looking spin attack to compliment their already impressive pace options.

Wanindu Hasaranga had a sensational World Cup and will be looking to have a similar impact at RCB. Worth remembering that he was with the Challengers last year too but had his starting opportunities limited while Chahal was at the club. To compliment him, RCB can also call upon right and left arm finger spinners in Maxwell and Shahbaz Ahmed a combination that on slower wickets (as we saw in the early part of last season's IPL) was very effective indeed at strangling opposition scoring.

All in all, I'd say RCB have the most complete looking bowling attack and the investment that they've made in that area hints at a sea change in the thinking of a franchise that has always had big name T20 batsmen (Gayle, AB de Villiers, Kohli, etc) but has perhaps under invested in their bowlers. Despite all the hype, they've never won the IPL. Could this be their year?

All graphs and stats are my own work