This season’s Indian Premier League (IPL) has seen the highest average score over the first and second innings in the competition’s history. It became even clearer on Sunday, when the Punjab Kings, Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians, and Rajasthan Royals all posted 200-plus totals that were successfully chased down.
Two days earlier, the Lucknow Super Giants kept the scorers busy by compiling the second-highest IPL total of all time (257) against the Punjab Kings. As a result, IPL 2023 has a record number of 200-plus scores (20). The previous high was set last season, when 18 200-plus scores were recorded.
The current IPL season has had the highest first- and second-inning average scores in history. The average first-inning score after 34 games was 179, which was seven more than the second-highest year of 2018. Similarly, the second-innings average score after 34 matches was 165, which was six higher than the second-best year, 2018, once again.
Only successful run chases put 2018 ahead of 2023. While the average target successfully chased in 2018 was 166 runs, 2023 trails by one run at 165. That would have been easily surpassed after the Sunday matches.
What is causing these high-scoring games? The reason for this is middle overs (7–15 overs). Teams have averaged 72 runs in both innings throughout this period, which ranks second in previous seasons. The average first-inning score is two runs lower than in 2018. The second-inning score is tied for first with 2022’s (72).
Some stadiums have helped keep the scoring rates high. The average first-inning score at Wankhede Stadium (185), Eden Gardens (222), and Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium (179) is the highest for the venue.
Chinnaswamy Stadium (194) and Chepauk (175) are the venues with the second-highest first-inning average score. Sawai Mansingh Stadium (154) has the sixth-highest average score on the list, and Arun Jaitley Stadium (154) is tenth on the list when compared to previous seasons.
