Mind-blowing differences in IPL stats of Indian Vs. Foreign Players
IPL is a level playing field where players from different cricketing countries come together on the same platform and compete as a team with each other irrespective of which country they represent. Such a heterogeneous composition of cricket teams shall remove all biases and the performance of the Indian and non-Indian players should be free of their nationality.
You will be surprised to know that there are spectacular differences in the way the Indian and non-Indian players have performed over the last 12 years and it didn’t matter which foreign country the non-Indian players belonged to and how much have they played on Indian soil earlier. The trends are so distinct that you will be left thinking as to what all possible reasons could be behind such stark differences in performance across various disciplines of the game.
Most Runs
Indians really score big time here with just David Warner being there in The top 5. Call it Indian conditions or the ability of Indian batsmen to keep scoring in T20 format, we outshine the foreigners in scoring runs consistently.
Highest individual score
The table is turned though when it comes to the highest scores. It seems like foreign players are better at scoring at a fast pace and taking their personal score to new heights. And it is not just one country Gayle, McCullum, de Velliers play for West Indies, New Zealand and South Africa respectively. As we said, it didn’t matter which country they belonged to didn’t matter when we look at the stats.
| Batsman | Runs | Balls | Opponent | Season |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chris Gayle (RCB) | 175* | 66 | PWI | 2013 |
| Brendon McCullum (KKR) | 158* | 73 | RCB | 2008 |
| AB de Villiers (RCB) | 133* | 59 | MI | 2015 |
| AB de Villiers (RCB) | 129* | 52 | GL | 2016 |
| Chris Gayle (RCB) | 128* | 62 | DD | 2012 |
Most sixes (overall)
A mixed bag here with 2 foreigners and 3 Indians featuring in top 5.
| Batsman | Innings | 6’s | Span |
| Chris Gayle (KKR, RCB, KXIP) | 124 | 326 | 2008–2019 |
| AB de Villiers (DD, RCB) | 142 | 212 | 2008–2019 |
| MS Dhoni (CSK, RPS) | 170 | 209 | 2008–2019 |
| Suresh Raina (CSK, GL) | 189 | 194 | 2008–2019 |
| Rohit Sharma (DC, MI) | 183 | 194 | 2008–2019 |
Most fours (overall)
While no one seems to own the skies, Indians definitely seem to be owning the boundary. With just David Warner appearing at 5th number, Indians have shown their love for hitting boundaries. It is remarkable to see how such big hitters like Gayle, McCullum, deVillers etc haven’t made to top 5 of this list. Another surprising statistic that differentiates Indians and foreigners in IPL.
| Batsman | Innings | 4’s | Span |
| Shikhar Dhawan (DC, MI, SRH) | 158 | 524 | 2008–2019 |
| Suresh Raina (CSK, GL) | 189 | 493 | 2008–2018 |
| Gautam Gambhir (DD, KKR) | 152 | 491 | 2008–2019 |
| Virat Kohli (RCB) | 169 | 480 | 2008–2019 |
| David Warner (DD, SRH) | 126 | 458 | 2008–2019 |
Most sixes in an inning
Well well, we didn’t expect this, and neither did you. A complete washout; even though it’s just three players who dominated the list, we’d have expected at least 1 Indian to make it to the top 5. This further highlights how different Indian and foreign players are, Dhoni, Raina and Rohit Sharma who are in the top 5 list for overall 6’s do not feature in this list at all, as a matter of fact, they don’t even feature in the top 10 of this list. Want some more surprises?
No Indian features in Top 10 for most 6’s in an inning. Only 4 Indians feature in Top 20 but Dhoni, Raina and Rohit are not there in Top 20 as well.
| Batsman | 6’s | Opponent | Season |
| Chris Gayle (RCB) | 17 | PWI | 2013 |
| Chris Gayle (RCB) | 13 | DD | 2012 |
| Brendon McCullum (KKR) | 13 | RCB | 2008 |
| Chris Gayle (RCB) | 12 | KXIP | 2015 |
| AB de Villiers (RCB) | 12 | GL | 2016 |
Fastest centuries
This table clearly shows how obvious the skew is in the playing styles of Indian and non-Indian players. Only Yusuf Pathan made it to the list. This, however, can be a direct result of foreigners being more successful in hitting 6s in a single inning.
| Batsman | Balls | Opponent | Season |
| Chris Gayle (RCB) | 30 | PWI | 2013 |
| Yusuf Pathan (RR) | 37 | MI | 2010 |
| David Miller (KXIP) | 38 | RCB | 2013 |
| Adam Gilchrist (DC) | 42 | MI | 2008 |
| David Warner (SRH) | 43 | GL | 2016 |
| AB de Villiers (RCB) | 43 | GL | 2016 |
Most Wickets
It might look like quite a mixed one here considering that Dwayne Bravo reached so close to Harbhajan and Piyush in much fewer innings. However, Bravo is the only non-Indian in the Top 10 and there are only 3 foreigners in the Top 20 making Indian bowlers the most effective breed in IPL.
| Bowler | Innings | Wickets | Span |
| Lasith Malinga (MI) | 122 | 170 | 2009–2017, 2019 |
| Amit Mishra (DEC, DC, SRH) | 147 | 157 | 2008–2019 |
| Harbhajan Singh (MI, CSK) | 157 | 150 | 2008–2019 |
| Piyush Chawla (KXIP, KKR, CSK) | 156 | 150 | 2008–2019 |
| Dwayne Bravo (MI, CSK, GL) | 131 | 147 | 2008–2019 |
Best bowling figures in an inning
The picture again changes and the foreigners perform better when it comes to best bowling figures in an inning. Although looking at the Top 10 it seems balanced as there are 5 Indians and 5 non-Indian players in the Top 10.
| Player | Overs | Figure | Opponent | Season |
| Alzarri Joseph (MI) | 3.4 | 06-12 | SRH | 2019 |
| Sohail Tanvir (RR) | 4 | 6-14 | CSK | 2008 |
| Adam Zampa (RPS) | 4 | 6-19 | SRH | 2016 |
| Anil Kumble (RCB) | 3.1 | 05-5 | RR | 2009 |
| Ishant Sharma (DEC) | 3 | 05-12 | KTK | 2011 |
Best bowling averages
Needless to say that the foreigners beat Indian players hands down in consistency and discipline of bowling. Shreyas Gopal is the only Indian bowler in the Top 10 rankings as well. India really needs to look into this aspect since the same players also play for India.
| Player | Matches | Average | Span |
| Kagiso Rabada (DC) | 18 | 17.93 | 2017–2019 |
| Doug Bollinger (CSK) | 27 | 18.72 | 2010–2012 |
| Dimitri Mascarenhas (KXIP, RR) | 13 | 18.73 | 2008–2013 |
| MF Maharoof (DD) | 20 | 19.2 | 2008–2010 |
| Shreyas Gopal (MI, RR) | 30 | 19.39 | 2014–2019 |
Hat-tricks
We would say Indians know a lot of Hat-tricks. Out of a total of 19 hat-tricks in entire IPL history, 13 have been taken by Indian bowlers. This stat goes really hand-in-hand with Indians dominating the list of highest wicket-takers.
Most Stumpings
No prize for guessing who’s on top of the list here but it is heartening to see that the list is totally dominated by Indian wicketkeepers.
| Wicket Keeper | Stumpings | Span |
| MS Dhoni (CSK, RPS) | 38 | 2008–2019 |
| Robin Uthappa (MI, RCB, PWI, KKR), | 32 | 2008–2019 |
| Dinesh Karthik (DD, KXIP, MI, RCB, KKR, GL) | 30 | 2008–2019 |
| Wriddhiman Saha (CSK, KXIP, KKR, SRH) | 19 | 2008–2019 |
| Parthiv Patel (CSK, DEC, KTK, MI, RCB, SRH) | 16 | 2008–2019 |
| Adam Gilchrist (DEC, KXIP) | 16 | 2008–2013 |
Indian players’ dominance behind the wickets is also evident from the Top 5 list of ‘most catches by wicketkeeper’ where all 5 players are Indians lead by Dinesh Karthik on top.
Most catches (fielder)
There is an old cricketing proverb – Catches win matches.
Surprisingly Indian fielders perform better than foreigners when it comes to fielding and that’s a true delight.
| Player | Catches | Span |
| Suresh Raina (CSK, GL) | 102 | 2008–2019 |
| AB de Villiers (DD, RCB) | 84 | 2008–2019 |
| Rohit Sharma (DEC, MI) | 83 | 2008–2019 |
| Kieron Pollard (MI) | 82 | 2010–2019 |
| Dwayne Bravo (MI, CSK, GL) | 74 | 2008–2019 |
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