When the 2011 edition of the Indian Premier League came along, IPL 2011, there was a lot of buzz surrounding the ICC Cricket World Cup, which India won, under MS Dhoni’s captaincy. After that triumph, the onus was on him to let the Chennai Super Kings to their second title consecutive win in the tournament. And, he did not disappoint. As Chennai cruised to their second consecutive title win, there were many records set, which made the tournament as interesting as ever to watch. So, let us have a look at some of the interesting statistics from that edition of the excitement-filled tournament.
Most Runs in IPL 2011:
This was the year of Chris Gayle and his dominance with the bat in hand. The ‘Universe Boss’ took every opportunity at hand and made sure that while opening the batting for the Royal Challengers Bangalore, he gave them the worth of their money. Gayle in the 12 matches that he played in, scored 608 runs at a strike rate of 183.13 and an average of 67.55, in IPL 2011.
His teammate, Virat Kohli was the 2nd highest run-getter, as he scored 557 runs in 16 matches. Sachin Tendulkar came in at number 3 in the leader board as managed to piece together a total of 553 runs in the 16 games that he played in. Following him were Shaun Marsh and Michael Hussey, who played 14 games each and scored 504 and 492 runs respectively.
| S.No | Player | Matches | Runs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chris Gayle | 12 | 608 |
| 2 | Virat Kohli | 16 | 557 |
| 3 | Sachin Tendulkar | 16 | 553 |
| 4 | Shaun Marsh | 14 | 504 |
| 5 | Michael Hussey | 14 | 492 |
Most Wickets in IPL 2011:
‘Slinga Malinga’ spread his magic with the ball all over the tournament as he managed to pick 28 wickets in 16 matches. The second spot in the wicket taker’s list of the tournament was bagged by Munaf Patel, who had 22 wickets in 15 matches. Both these players had come fresh off the World Cup and it reflected in the best ways in their bowling style.
Sreenath Aravind, was the player who got slotted into the 3rd spot of the list, having taken 21 wickets in 13 matches. Ravichandran Ashwin came in next with 20 wickets in 16 games, and the 5th spot was filled in by another spinner, but from a different team. It was Amit Mishra, who took 19 wickets in 14 games.
| S.No | Player | Matches | Wickets |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lasith Malinga | 16 | 28 |
| 2 | Munaf Patel | 15 | 22 |
| 3 | Sreenath Aravind | 13 | 21 |
| 4 | Ravichandran Ashwin | 16 | 20 |
| 5 | Amit Mishra | 14 | 19 |
Most Sixes in IPL 2011:
Chris Gayle was the man who made the balls spread their wings wide and sent them flying over the clouds. Gayle in just the 12 games that he played, hit 44 sixes and grabbed the top spot in yet another list. Picking up from where he left off in the ICC Cricket World Cup Final, was MS Dhoni who was the second-highest six-hitter in the tournament as he smacked 23 deliveries into the crowd in 16 matches.
Shaun Marsh and Paul Valthaty of the erstwhile Kings XI Punjab, played in 14 games each and sent the ball over the boundary rope for a maximum on 20 occasions. The difference in their overall aggregate run total was what caused them to be separated in the list. Rounding up the top 5 here was Murali Vijay who chipped in with 20 sixes too, but in 16 matches.
| S.No | Player | Matches | Sixes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chris Gayle | 12 | 44 |
| 2 | MS Dhoni | 16 | 23 |
| 3 | Shaun Marsh | 14 | 20 |
| 4 | Paul Valthaty | 14 | 20 |
| 5 | Murali Vijay | 16 | 20 |
Most Fours in IPL 2011:
Sending the ball along the ground is a thing that no one else did better than the ‘Little Master Himself’. Sachin Tendulkar, who was the 3rd highest run-getter of the tournament, hit 67 boundaries in total during the 16 matches that he played. Chris Gayle was off by 10 boundaries as he came in the second spot.
Paul Valthaty, Virat Kohli and Michael Hussey followed in, as they covered up the 3rd, 4th and 5th positions in the leaderboard. Valthaty hit 56 fours in 14 games, Kohli managed to hit 55 in 16 games and ‘Mr Cricket’ Michael Hussey got to the 53 fours mark in the 14 matches that he played in.
| S.No | Player | Matches | Fours |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sachin Tendulkar | 16 | 67 |
| 2 | Chris Gayle | 12 | 57 |
| 3 | Paul Valthaty | 14 | 56 |
| 4 | Virat Kohli | 16 | 55 |
| 5 | Michael Hussey | 14 | 53 |
Fastest Fifties in IPL 2011:
Paul Valthaty made his presence felt in the leader boards yet again as he smacked the fastest fifty of IPL 2011. In a match against the Chennai Super Kings at the IS Bindra Stadium, he hit a 23 ball fifty and made sure that his name remained immortal in IPL history books.
The second fastest fifties and ‘fifties’ is used here because 3 players hit the 50 run mark with the bat in 24 balls. Dinesh Karthik against the Kochi Tuskers, Jesse Ryder against the Deccan Chargers and Sunny Sohal against Chennai Super Kings hit 24 ball fifties. The fifth spot in this list was taken up by Adam Gilchrist who smoked a 25 ball half-century against the Royal Challengers Bangalore.
| S.No | Player | Against | Balls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paul Valthaty | 23 | 618 |
| 2 | Dinesh Karthik | 24 | 572 |
| 3 | Jesse Ryder | 24 | 520 |
| 4 | Sunny Sohal | 24 | 493 |
| 5 | Adam Gilchrist | 25 | 458 |
IPL 2011 Points Table:
| Rank | Team | Match | Won | Lost | Tied | NR | Net RR | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | RCB | 14 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0.326 | 19 |
| 2 | CSK | 14 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0.443 | 18 |
| 3 | MI | 14 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0.040 | 18 |
| 4 | KKR | 14 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0.433 | 16 |
| 5 | KXIP | 14 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | -0.051 | 14 |
| 6 | RR | 14 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 1 | -0.691 | 13 |
| 7 | DC | 14 | 6 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0.222 | 12 |
| 8 | KTK | 14 | 6 | 8 | 0 | 0 | -0.214 | 12 |
| 9 | PWI | 14 | 4 | 9 | 0 | 1 | -0.134 | 9 |
| 10 | DD | 14 | 4 | 9 | 0 | 1 | -0.448 | 9 |
