Almost after two months of intense T20 action, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) became the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 champions at the Narendra Modi Stadium, beating Gujarat Titans (GT) by five wickets in the nail-biting final contest. Within the last couple of months, both CSK and GT played quality cricket to feature in the final at the iconic stadium.
Following their spectacular title win, there were celebrations in the CSK camp. While on the other side, the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) team management will be concerned as they failed to leave an impact in the league for three consecutive editions.
The downfall of SRH will be frightful, and to avoid the situation that SRH are going through, other franchises will analyse their performances to come back stronger in the 2024 edition of the league.
Here are the rankings of all ten teams based on their performances
10. Sunrisers Hyderabad- 3.5/10
As mentioned earlier, the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) team management must be going through a lot of stress after witnessing their team’s disastrous show in the recently concluded tournament. In SRH’s unsuccessful journey in 2023, their key players failed to be efficient throughout the competition.
Harry Brook, who had become the most expensive buy for the franchise in the 2023 mini-auction, failed to turn up against bowlers. Along with the English batter, Mayank Agarwal, Rahul Tripathi, and captain Aiden Markram also struggled to reinforce the SRH’s batting unit throughout the competition.
Talking about their bowlers, their premier names, Umran Malik, Marco Jansen, and Fazalhaq Farooqi, were indisciplined with the ball. Two-time IPL Purple Cap winner Bhuvneshawar Kumar and the leg-spinner Mayank Markande exuded confidence with their bowling displays, but their efforts couldn’t evade SRH’s debacle in the competition.
9. Delhi Capitals- 4/10
Under David Warner, Delhi Capitals (DC) were expected to deliver their stellar performances in the 2023 edition of the tournament, but the 2020 IPL runners-up looked completely underconfident and ended up in the ninth position on the points table. In the first leg, they lost their first five games, and with that, their confidence was completely shattered.
David Warner, the skipper of the team, looked completely different this season as he adopted a defensive approach while batting, which cost DC crucial matches. Prithvi Shaw, Mitchell Marsh, Manish Pandey, and Rilee Rossouw were important names in Delhi’s batting line-up, but all these names looked out of colour.
In the bowling department, Anrich Nortje, Mustafizur Rahman, and Khaleel Ahmed weren’t difficult to pick up by batters as they splurged a lot of runs. Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav strived to bolster the spin unit with their economical spells, but both lacked wicket-taking efforts.
8. Punjab Kings- 5/10
Under experienced Shikhar Dhawan, Punjab Kings (PBKS) were expecting to lift the trophy for the first time, but now after the conclusion of the tournament, nothing has changed for the team as this season as well, they came out as one of the worst performing teams in the competition.
Sam Curran, who was not just the costliest buy of PBKS in the mini-auction but also the most expensive player in the IPL history, looked ordinary in both batting and bowling departments. Skipper Dhawan, Liam Livingstone, and Prabhsimran Singh strengthened the team’s batting unit with their consistent batting performances, but the below-par displays from bowlers took the team backward.
Arshdeep Singh became the highest wicket-taker for the team, but his imperfect line and length was something that helped batters plunder runs. Nathan Ellls started his tournament well, but after a few games, he lost his rhythm. Kagiso Rabada, who was expected to spearhead the pace unit, also struggled to be among the wickets. Sikandar Raza played some confident knocks with his bat, but when it came to adding strength to the spin department, he remained ineffective.
7. Kolkata Knight Riders- 6/10
In 2023, Nitish Rana held the reins of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the absence of Shreyas Iyer due to his back injury. Rana’s record as Delhi's captain in domestic cricket made him a credible candidate to lead the side in the tournament. In their opening match, KKR got a seven-run loss (DLS method) at the hands of Punjab Kings (PBKS) at the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) Stadium.
After the defeat in their first game, KKR got victories in their next two matches but again, their inconsistency derailed their campaign, and in the end, didn’t qualify for the playoffs. Talking about the performance of their players in the competition, Rinku Singh and Jason Roy succeeded in impressing fans with their plucky batting shows.
Captain Nitish Rana and Venkatesh Iyer looked decent in overall matches, but Andre Russell, who is one of the most reliable players in the squad, failed to be upto the mark. In the bowling department, Sunil Narine’s disastrous bowling weakened the spin attack despite Varun Chakravarthy’s fine bowling. Their pace attack also couldn’t dread opponents as Shardul Thakur, Andre Russell, Umesh Yadav, and Lockie Ferguson didn’t perform according to their reputation.
6. Rajasthan Royals- 6.5/10
Rajasthan Royals (RR) were one of the favourites to win the title this year, as they had renowned international icons such as explosive batter Jos Buttler, star pacer Trent Boult, spin wizards Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal, and perfect finisher in Shimron Hetmyer. Along with these names, they also had their skipper Sanju Samson, who has played a lot of cricket in the league.
In the first leg, RR played quality cricket and won five of their seven matches, but in the second round of the league stage, their campaign got shaken due to their laxity. In the huge game against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), their batting collapsed, and RCB handed them a massive 112-run defeat. The humiliating loss affected them negatively as it kept them away from the playoffs.
The biggest cause of RR’s failure in the competition was their batters’ below-par batting displays. IPL 2022 Orange Cap winner Jos Buttler struggled in the majority of games and amassed five ducks in the tournament. Along with England’s limited-overs skipper, Samson, Hetmyer, and Devdutt Padikkal also floundered in the competition and came out as failures. Their bowlers performed excellently in most games, but in the crucial 42nd and 52nd contests against Mumbai Indians (MI) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), respectively, they also broke under pressure and gave away games to the opponents due to their blunders.
5. Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB)- 6.5/10
This season, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) went through another heartbreak as their team’s journey in IPL 2023 ended in the league stage. Faf du Plessis, the skipper of RCB, strived to lead from the front with his aggressive batting, but the veteran didn’t get enough support from his team.
In the entire competition, du Plessis, Virat Kohli, and Glenn Maxwell were the only batters who carried the team efficiently with their performances. Other batters such as Mahipal Lomror, Dinesh Karthik, and Anuj Rawat also undermined the team with their horrendous batting shows.
Mohammed Siraj spearheaded RCB’s fast-bowling unit from the front but other pacers such as Harshal Patel, Vijaykumar Vyshak, and Wayne Parnell couldn’t support the 29-year-old. Josh Hazlewood’s availability for limited matches also affected the quality of their pace bowling. Wanindu Hasaranga, who became RCB’s leading wicket-taker last year, failed to provide economical and wicket-taking spells in 2023.
4. Lucknow Super Giants- 7/10
Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) wrapped up their IPL 2023 campaign with their embarrassing 81-run loss against Mumbai Indians (MI) in the Eliminator. Earlier, they went through ups and downs in the league round, but some of the solid performances from their important players helped them to advance to the next round.
Ahead of the tournament, their captain KL Rahul was struggling in the international circuit, and in the competition, too, he continued his poor form. In nine outings, he scored only 274 runs at a terrible strike rate of 113.22. Nicholas Pooran, Kyle Mayers, and Marcus Stoinis justified their role as they powered the team several times with their spunky batting performances. Similarly, in the bowling unit, Mark Wood, Naveen-ul-Haq, and Ravi Bishnoi played their part brilliantly.
However, Krunal Pandya, who got the captaincy mantle after Rahul’s exit from the tournament, delivered ordinary performances to his team. In both batting and bowling departments, he delivered dismal numbers to the team. One player who remained a complete failure throughout the T20 event was Deepak Hooda. The 28-year-old racked up only 84 runs in 12 matches at a strike rate of 93.33.
3. Mumbai Indians- 7/10
Mumbai Indians (MI) finished in the third position in the tournament after losing to Gujarat Titans (GT) by 62 runs in Qualifier 2. Earlier, in their intriguing journey in the league stage, Suryakumar Yadav and Cameron Green played a huge role with the bat to take the team to the playoffs. After struggling in the initial stage of the tournament, Suryakumar got his form back and delivered heroics to his team. Notching up 605 runs in 16 matches at a jaw-dropping strike rate of 181.13, he became the leading run-getter for his team.
Along with Suryakumar, Green, too, strengthened Mumbai with 452 runs in 16 games at a strike rate of 160.28. Tim David, whose responsibility was to bolster the team’s batting unit down the order, delivered some match-finishing knocks to his team. Youngsters such as Tilak Varma and Nehal Wadhera also performed efficiently and won the hearts of MI supporters. Piyush Chawla made an ideal comeback in the league after two years as he became the leading wicket-taker for Mumbai with 22 scalps in 16 games at an economy of 8.11.
However, what came out as a huge headache was captain Rohit Sharma’s disheartening performance. In 16 games, the veteran smashed only 332 runs in 16 matches at an underwhelming strike rate of 132.80. Discussing MI’s bowling performance, it could be said that the Men in Blue missed the services of their prime bowler Jasprit Bumrah. Jofra Archer and Jason Behrendorff failed to fill Bumrah’s shoes as both speedsters not only struggled to be among the wickets but were also incapable to stop the flow of runs.
2. Gujarat Titans- 9/10
Gujarat Titans (GT) played an aggressive brand of cricket throughout IPL 2023 and finished their unprecedented journey as runners-up. Riding on sensational performances of their players Shubman Gill, Mohammed Shami, Mohit Sharma, and Rashid Khan, GT became the table-toppers in the round-robin stage, with ten triumphs and four defeats.
Gill emerged as the best batter in the tournament, becoming the Orange Cap winner with 890 runs in 17 matches at an outstanding strike rate of 157.80. In the bowling department, Mohammed Shami clinched the Purple Cap with 28 wickets in 17 matches at an economy of 8.03. Shami got stiff competition from his teammates Mohit Sharma and Rashid Khan as both bowlers took 27 wickets, respectively. Noor Ahmed, who was playing his maiden IPL season, proved his worth by claiming 16 wickets in 13 games at an economy of 7.82.
Hardik Pandya, the skipper of the side, looked decent with his bat, amassing 346 runs in 16 matches at a strike rate of 136.75. For Wriddhiman Saha and Vijay Shankar, the tournament was a confidence booster as they found themselves among the runs and also became valuable assets for Titans.
1. Chennai Super Kings- 9.5/10
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) lifted their fifth trophy under their majestic skipper, MS Dhoni. After losing the inaugural match to Gujarat Titans (GT) at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Dhoni and his men didn’t turn back and delivered top-notch performances to their supporters. Their openers Devon Conway and Ruturaj Gaikwad delivered excellent starts to the team, while Ajinkya Rahane showcased his fierce side in the league after years.
In the middle order, Shivam Dube stepped up and delivered solid numbers to the team whenever required. Young Matheesha Pathirana took 19 wickets and 12 matches in the tournament and showed that he has the potential to become a star bowler for the franchise in the upcoming years.
Ravindra Jadeja grabbed the limelight for his extraordinary strokes on the last couple of deliveries of the tournament, but earlier, too, the 34-year-old was efficient for the team with his all-round skills. The left-arm spinner ended up with 190 runs and 20 wickets in 16 matches at an economy of 7.56.
from IPL Live Score | IPL News, IPL 2023 Updates, Squads & Results - CricTracker