After some dramatic encounters and edge-of-the-seat thrillers, the league stage of IPL 2023 is finally over. The four teams that made it to the playoffs are the Gujarat Titans, Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians, and Lucknow Super Giants. The other six teams had to bid adieu to the season with hopes that they can come back stronger in the next edition. Here, we shall take a look at how these six teams fared and what's in store for them in the future
Sunrisers Hyderabad
Position: 10th
Most Runs: Heinrich Klaasen (448)
Most Wickets: Bhuvneshwar Kumar (16)
Many pundits and fans tipped Hyderabad as one of the title contenders after the 2023 IPL auction in December and nobody can really fault them for believing so, considering the kind of squad they had assembled.
However, as the season started, there emerged massive shortcomings in the line-up and in the team's executions, resulting in just four victories in their 14 league stage matches.
Aiden Markram had a disappointing season, both as a captain and as a batter. Moreover, his comment on Umran Malik, where he stated that he had no idea why wasn't playing, highlighted everything wrong that was going on at SRH behind the scenes. Heinrich Klaasen had a season to remember, though. He was in excellent form and even scored a century. But support from other batters was always missing, which didn't allow the team to get to significant totals in most matches.
Mayank Agarwal and Harry Brook, whom SRH bought for INR 8.25 crores and 13.25 crores, disappointed a lot as well. Brook did make a century against KKR and Agarwal also played a good hand in their last match of the season, but their inability to turn up in majority of the matches didn't help SRH's cause at all.
Delhi Capitals
Position: 9th
Most Runs: David Warner (516)
Most Wickets: Mitchell Marsh (12)
Delhi's season was over even before it could start properly. They started the season with five losses on the trot, where their batting failed miserably. Their batters failed to cope up with the slow and sluggish nature of the track at their home ground throughout the season, which saw them losing five out of their seven matches at home.
David Warner, the DC captain, even went on to say on record that he wasn't very happy with the nature of the deck dished out at home. The Capitals did fairly well on good wickets, which aided their batters in playing shots freely. The Delhi middle-order (position 3 to 7) recorded the lowest average and strike-rate among all teams this season. That sums up how much they struggled. They also suffered due to their spinners. Even though they were quite economical, the DC spinners couldn't pick up wickets consistently.
There were some strategic errors on the Delhi think-tank's part as well. With Rishabh Pant ruled out of the entire season after his car accident earlier this year, they needed an equally good player of spin to bat consistently in the top four. They had that option in Axar Patel but they kept using him lower down the order throughout the season, even after watching how their batting unit was collapsing. Delhi did string together four wins in a stretch of five matches towards the middle of the season, but it was too little too late as other teams had made giant strides towards the playoffs already by then.
Punjab Kings
Position: 8th
Most Runs: Shikhar Dhawan (373)
Most Wickets: Arshdeep Singh (17)
The Punjab Kings had a mixed season of sorts. They played some really exciting cricket and were totally in contention to make it to the playoffs but consecutive losses in their last two matches spoiled their party. The batters kept producing one terrific show after another, but it was really their bowling that fell short by a long distance.
To put things into perspective, Punjab Kings' bowlers picked up the least number of wickets (72) among all teams in IPL 2023, while also recording the worst average (35.61) and strike-rate (22.62).
The Punjab batters, in comparison, scored the second most number of runs among all teams in the season and their strike-rate (145.02) was also the fifth best among all teams. These numbers make it quite clear how their bowlers let their batters down in a massive manner. Having said that, they can be a force to reckon with in the next edition, provided they improve their bowling stocks.
Kolkata Knight Riders
Position: 7th
Most Runs: Rinku Singh (474)
Most Wickets: Varun Chakravarthy (20)
Seventh place finish isn't really a performance to brag about, but the KKR fans do feel so as they had very low expectations from their team following their poor work in the auctions. While most fans and pundits were expecting KKR to finish with the wooden spoon, they certainly went on to overachieve, winning six out of the 14 games they played.
They were also in contention for the playoffs right until their last match, which they lost to the Lucknow Super Giants by just one run. That defeat brought an end to their IPL 2023 campaign, but this season saw the rise of many domestic players, and Rinku Singh stood tall among all of them. The left-handed batter finished the season ad KKR's highest run-scorer with 474 runs to his name at an average and strike-rate of just a shade under 60 and 150 respectively. He played many match-winning knocks and almost kept them in the hunt for the playoffs with his unbeaten 67 off 33 deliveries in their last match against LSG. But he shot to fame mainly when he smashed Yash Dayal for five consecutive sixes in the last over to seal a win against Gujarat.
Rinku's performance was definitely the highlight of the season for KKR, but Varun Chakravarthy also shone with his bowling, claiming 20 wickets at 21.45 runs a piece. Young seamers like Harshit Rana and Vaibhav Arora also stepped up with their performances to show that there is enough promise in this side for the future.
But this season also showed that it is probably time for KKR to move on from the likes of Andre Russell and Sunil Narine. Both players are past their prime, and it was Narine in particular who encountered a forgettable season. If they improve their overseas contingent next year, there's enough potential in this team to make it to the playoffs consistently and also challenge for the title.
Royal Challengers Bangalore
Position: 6th
Most Runs: Faf du Plessis (730)
Most Wickets: Mohammed Siraj (19)
RCB were on a streak of three consecutive playoffs and they looked good to extend it to four this season, until their party was spoiled by defending champions Gujarat Titans in their last game of the season. Even a Virat Kohli ton couldn't get them through, and that sums up how well the Titans performed in the game. Kohli's century was bettered by Shubman Gill, who led the chase of 198 for the Titans in front of a packed Chinnaswamy Stadium.
RCB had many other performers also who stepped up with their best in this campaign. Skipper Faf du Plessis was sensational as he amassed over 700 runs at a strike-rate of over 150. Glenn Maxwell played some really important knocks as well while Mohammed Siraj picked up crucial 19 wickets, which includes some spell-binding new ball spells.
Where RCB really fell short was the contribution from their middle-order batters and other bowlers. Once Rajat Patidar got ruled out, nobody else seemed good enough to fill his shoes. Mike Hesson and Co. also made quite a mess by trying different batters like Shahbaz Ahmed, Mahipal Lomror and Anuj Rawat between No.3 and 4 from time to time. None of them were given a fixed role.
Moreover, Dinesh Karthik also had an underwhelming season and that didn't allow RCB to finish strongly in a lot of the matches. Ultimately, they fell short of the playoffs by the barest of margins but they did perform well as an unit throughout the season, and the fans showed their support for the team by cheering for them when they made a lap of honour at the Chinnaswamy Stadium after their final game.
Rajasthan Royals
Position: 5th
Most Runs: Yashasvi Jaiswal (625)
Most Wickets: Yuzvendra Chahal (21)
Last season's runners-up Rajasthan Royals were expected to make it to the playoffs once again, but fate had some other things planned as their performance completely nosedived after a bright start to the season. The Royals made a great start, winning four out of their first five games, but their performance dipped suddenly and they went on to lose five out of their next six matches. They did finish the league stage with a four-wicket win against Punjab but it was too late by then.
Yashasvi Jaiswal was their star performer of the season, as he amassed more than 600 runs and became the first uncapped player in the history of the IPL to achieve the milestone. The spin-bowling pair of Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal were as good as ever, claiming 35 wickets between themselves.
But it was Jos Buttler who encountered quite an underwhelming season. Although he amassed 392 runs, which is still pretty good, it's substantially low by the standards he has set for himself. More so, considering the fact that he was dismissed for five ducks in this campaign. Caribbean middle-order batter Shimron Hetmyer also encountered a dip in his performance towards the middle of the season and all that combined didn't work in the Royals' favour at all.
Skipper Sanju Samson led them well and also played some really good knocks. But it was their death bowling that cost them a lot of matches. RR were the second most expensive side (13.41 economy rate) in the last two overs among all teams this season, and that sums up how they let things loose at crucial moments. But this team can really go all the way next season, all they need are some reinforcements in some key areas.
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