David Warner and Kagiso Rabada have been the biggest stars in IPL 2019 so far
The group stages of Indian Premier League 2019 has come to an end and it has been a fun ride for the viewers. From David Warner's heroic return to Andre Russell's superhuman efforts, the league stage has been a massive hit.
There have been some scintillating performances throughout the 56 games with some games going down the wire out of which two were Super Overs. The foreign recruits seem to have outsmarted the Indians this time around and lead the way in the numbers department so far in this year's tournament.
Sunrisers Hyderabad's David Warner, who was returning to IPL after a gap of one year following his ball-tampering ban, is the leading run-scorer with 692 runs from 12 games at an average of 69.20. The southpaw looked in ominous form for the oppositions throughout the 12 games he played and scored runs at a strike-rate of 143.86. He along with Jonny Bairstow lit up the tournament and in the process, the Aussie smashed one century and eight fifties. Warner signed off with 57 fours and 21 sixes in the tournament.
The 32-year old is followed by Kings XI Punjab's KL Rahul (593), Kolkata Knight Riders' Andre Russell (510), Mumbai Indians' Quinton de Kock (492) and KXIP's Chris Gayle (490) in the list of most runs scored.
Andre Russell has smashed 52 sixes in this year's tournament
However, it is not Warner, who has been the most destructive in the tournament. KKR's Russell emerged as the dominating force and clobbered 52 maximums -- the most in this year's IPL so far. Next in the line is Gayle with 34 and he is followed by Mumbai Indians' Hardik Pandya (29), Royal Challengers Bangalore's AB de Villiers (26) and Rahul (25) in the top five. Delhi Capitals' Shikhar Dhawan leads the way with 58 boundaries to his name and he is followed by Warner (57), MI's Rohit Sharma (50), Rahul (49) and Bairstow (48).
There has been a total of five centuries so far in this year's tournament and they have come from the bats of Warner (versus RCB), Bairstow (versus RCB), Rahul (versus MI), RR's Sanju Samson (versus SRH) and Virat Kohli (versus KKR).
In the bowling department, DC's Kagiso Rabada, who also left to join the South Africa camp ahead of the 2019 World Cup, has the most number of wickets. The South African has 25 wickets from 12 games and he is followed by Chennai Super Kings' Imran Tahir (21), Rajasthan Royals' Shreyas Gopal (20), KXIP's Mohammed Shami (19) and RCB's Yuzvendra Chahal (18) in the top-five.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar has bowled the most number of dot balls in this season so far
SRH's Bhuvneshwar Kumar has bowled the most number of dot balls with 156 to his name from 14 games. He is closely followed by CSK's Deepak Chahar (153) and SRH's Rashid Khan (150).
Two hat-tricks have also occurred in this season's IPL so far with KXIP's Sam Curran picking the first one against DC and Shreyas Gopal grabbing the second in a rain-curtailed tie versus RCB.
The tournament so far has been a major hit and with the playoffs getting underway on Tuesday, it promises to get even better with some more records to be made.
