In Stats: The Success Formula of a Winning IPL Team

We try to analyse the critical factors behind the success of franchises in the IPL.

Mumbai Indians are one of the few teams to have won the IPL twice. (Photo: BCCI)

The 10th edition marks a notable milestone in the journey of the IPL. With the IPL advancing into the double-digit age, the world might have just seen enough of it to understand the novelty it brought about. In the true sense, cricket had not seen a bigger, more popular, or more successful franchise-based system before the IPL.

IPL cricket is just not fluke or luck-based, but requires strong strategies and thoughtful management for teams to be successful in it. While as many as 13 different franchise-based teams have participated in the IPL so far. In nine seasons, six sides have won the tournament, with Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders clinching the competition twice.

So what are the critical factors behind the success of a few franchises in the IPL?

Teams Get Better With Time

David Warner has been playing for the Sunrisers Hyderabad since 2014. (Photo: BCCI)

The importance of team-building is immense in a franchise-based system such as the IPL. With retention and transfers each year, every squad undergoes changes every now and again. To add to the problems, some IPL squads have even disappeared for several reasons at different points in time. Out of the 13 teams that have taken part in IPL so far, only 5 have existed since its inception.

To describe the lifecycle or phases of team-building, psychologist Bruce Tuckman first came up with the memorable phrase "forming, storming, norming, and performing" in his 1965 article, 'Developmental Sequence in Small Groups'.

The concept is to a great degree valid for franchise-based IPL teams as well, where teams are built from scratch by bringing in players, coaching and support staff, analysts and more into a melting pot.

The IPL teams that have existed for years are lucky to have got time in their favour. The formation of a team is a process of many trials and errors. Therefore, time is a crucial factor behind the success of teams.

The data below shows that teams that are less than or 5 years old in the IPL have lower success rates in the tournament than their more experienced counterparts. For example, among the seven teams that have more than six IPL appearances, only two teams have less than 50% success rates. The success rates, however, decline for teams that are less than six years old in the IPL. It can hence be inferred that most teams don’t get it right the first time and they often require time to gradually develop a lethal winning combination.

Forming the Core of the Team Around the Right Leader is Key

Gautam Gambhir has led the Kolkata Knight Riders side since 2011. (Photo: BCCI)

As team-building is a difficult and tumultuous exercise in the IPL, the onus of the team management and, especially, that of the captains or leaders become extremely central for IPL squads. Captains do not only need to perform exceptionally to ensure success of the team, but also need to steady the ship during turbulent times.

Franchises that have been wiser and discretionary to invest, nurture, manage and retain top-class players as captains or leaders have also been more successful than others. Unlike CSK, which after picking MS Dhoni in the first auction never had to deliberate much about the captain of their side for 8 long years, all other IPL franchises have had a tough time getting strong leaders.

As the history of the IPL tells us, many successful franchises have taken such decisions going against the tide and by being very unconventional. Virat Kohli was chosen as captain by RCB when he was nowhere near becoming the Indian captain. MI handpicked Rohit Sharma as their leader from a plethora of options. KKR placed faith in Gautam Gambhir at a time when the franchise was in shambles.

It is important to note that it is a risky bet to have an overseas cricketer as captain. Other than David Warner, Shane Warne and Adam Gilchrist, most other foreign captains have not lived up to expectations.

Not only have the Indian conditions mostly been tough for visiting cricketers, the quota of only four overseas players also make the case for overseas captains not so convincing.

Captains Need to Lead by Example

The most important factor is their ability to set an example by their own sparkling performances. Cricket is a team game and no one individual can win a team the game. As a pattern, most captains in IPL have been top-order batsmen. There is a remarkable trend in the IPL, which showcases that whenever teams have qualified for play-offs, the captains of their respective teams have been pioneers in steering their sides in the right directions.

The below table shows that in the last four IPL seasons, 13 out of 16 times, captains of all teams qualifying for play-offs have been among the top 20 run scorers in the tournament across years. One of the critical success factors for any IPL team is hence how much a decisive role their captains play in ensuring their team’s success.

(Photo: Harsh Sahani/The Quint)

(Photo: Harsh Sahani/The Quint)

Spotting the Right Indian Talents With Balance

With seven Indian players allowed in the playing eleven, the importance of Indian players is indispensable in any IPL squad. The lot of Indian players who make the difference can be classified in two groups: star international players and high-potential uncapped players.

One of the indicators of a great performing teams in the IPL is how many Indian national stars (regular picks or in the close reckoning) are in the team. Chennai Super Kings performed exceptionally well consistently year after year because the squad was decked with many Indian players at their personal best or peak of their career: MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin.

(Photo: Harsh Sahani/The Quint)

The role the quality uncapped Indian players perform are different than the star national players. They may not produce immediate match-winning results for their franchise but become an integral part over time. Champion teams acquire them initially as value picks and after years of nurturing, reap the benefits out of them.

Players such as Manish Pandey, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Sanju Samson, Shreyas Iyer, Krunal Pandya, Hardik Pandya, Manan Vohra, Sandeep Sharma and Rishabh Pant are examples of such value players who, after being retained for substantially prolonged periods, have gradually come of age to return high dividends for their teams.

Making the Most of Home Conditions

Barring a few teams, most IPL teams play almost 50 percent of all their matches in one venue, their ‘home ground’. This high concentration of matches in one venue for a team makes it super critical for their success in the tournament. Consistent teams, such as RCB, KKR, MI, SRH and CSK, have all leveraged this home advantage superbly in their favour across the years.

Other than knowing the conditions and wickets well, the factors which differentiate home teams from their visiting opponents are the dimensions of the ground, crowd support and years of experience playing in the same venue again and again.

A sample statistics of champions and runners-up teams in the IPL across the last three years shows that all these teams have exceptional home records behind their remarkable achievements. One of the most successful teams in the history of the IPL, CSK holds the record of the best home win percentage record (67% winning rate in IPL) over years.

(Photo: Harsh Sahani/The Quint)

IPL – A Cutting-Edge Concept

The franchise-based model of the IPL is a cutting-edge concept and it has been instrumental in bringing about a revolution in the way cricket is being played today.

The franchise-based model has proven that national selectors are not the only ones picking teams these days, but a blend of corporates, cricket experts and analysts too can do a wonderful job in developing great teams to present highly competitive games.

With the talks of the need for all players to go under the hammer before next year’s IPL, it will be interesting to see how owners deploy their strategies in forming high performing teams.

(Debnath Roychowdhury is an alumnus of SP Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR), Mumbai and works as a Management Consultant. Debnath is a cricket analyst and writer and can be reached @ImDebnath and at LinkedIn.)

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