After over two months of high-octane Twenty20 cricketing action, the 2024 Indian Premier League came to a close on Sunday as Kolkata Knight Riders beat the Sunrisers Hyderabad by eight wickets in Chennai to win their third IPL crown.

This was a long season, but one that had been rated as the most “explosive” IPL due to the powerful, record-breaking batting performances on display.

The 17th edition of the marquee competition, however, did throw up some impressive bowling displays to go along with excellent fielding efforts.

Advertisement

The statisticians were kept busy with new milestones being set.

Here’s presenting the 2024 IPL season in numbers:

Also read: Kolkata Knight Riders’ bowlers set up win as Venkatesh Iyer clinches title against Sunrisers Hyderabad

Team records

The batters across all ten teams were playing on an unprecedented level in this season, with teams putting up scores of 200-plus quite regularly.

But with every team buoyed by greater batting depth because of the Impact Player rule, the race to the playoffs became a tighter affair.

IPL 2024 – tight finish to the playoffs

Position Team Played Won Lost No result NRR Points
1 KKR (Q) 14 9 3 2 1.428 20
2 SRH (Q) 14 8 5 1 0.414 17
3 RR (Q) 14 8 5 1 0.273 17
4 RCB (Q) 14 7 7 0 0.459 14
5 CSK 14 7 7 0 0.392 14
6 DC 14 7 7 0 -0.377 14
7 LSG 14 7 7 0 -0.667 14
8 GT 14 5 7 2 -1.063 12
9 PBKS 14 5 9 0 -0.353 10
10 MI 14 4 10 0 -0.318 8
Credit: IPLT20.com

The race to the play-offs was an incredibly tight one as four teams finished on 14 points. The Royal Challengers Bengaluru made the cut eventually due to a better Net Run Rate.

Advertisement

This was the first time four teams were level on points but only one could make it through.

This was however, the fourth time that three teams or more had been deadlocked on points and had to be separated on the NRR to decide who made the playoffs.

2020: Three teams finished with 14 points as the Sunrisers Hyderabad (0.608) and Bengaluru (-0.172) qualified over Kolkata Knight Riders (-0.214)

2019: Three teams finished with 12 points with Hyderabad (0.577) taking the playoff berth over Kolkata (-0.028) and Punjab Kings (-0.251)

Advertisement

2010: Four teams finished on 14 points with Chennai Super Kings (0.274) and Bengaluru (0.219) qualifying over Delhi Capitals (0.021) and Kolkata (-0.341)

Highest aggregate innings in T20 cricket

Position Team 1 Team 2 Runs Wickets Overs Place Date
1 RCB SRH 549 10 40.0 Bengaluru 15 Apr 2024
2 KKR PBKS 523 8 38.4 Eden Gardens 26 Apr 2024
3 SRH MI 523 8 40.0 Hyderabad 27 Mar 2024
4 South Africa West Indies 517 9 38.5 Centurion 26 Mar 2023
5 Gladiators Sultans 515 11 40.0 Rawalpindi 11 Mar 2023
Credit: Cricinfo Statsguru

Within a month, the highest aggregate runs scored in a T20 match was reset twice – Hyderabad were at the scene of the carnage both times.

The first was when they played Mumbai Indians on March 27 and set a new record for the highest-ever total in IPL history (277/3), surpassing Bengaluru’s total of 263 scored against the erstwhile Pune Warriors back in 2013. Mumbai managed to score 246/5, as the match finished with an aggregate of 523 runs, the highest in the format.

Advertisement

Then, the Hyderabad batting unit rewrote their own record when they played Bengaluru two weeks later to post a total of 287/3. Bengaluru’s reply of 262/7 then made this match move into top spot with the highest-ever aggregate of runs scored in a T20 game – 549.

Punjab’s win against Kolkata on April 26 (in third spot) and Delhi’s win against Mumbai (in seventh spot) means that four of the top 10 highest-aggregate totals in T20s were achieved in this IPL season alone.

Most runs scored in a chase

Team Score Overs Result Opposition Ground Match Date
Punjab Kings 262/2 18.4 won v KKR Eden Gardens 26 Apr 2024
RCB 262/7 20.0 lost v SRH Bengaluru 15 Apr 2024
South Africa 259/4 18.5 won v West Indies Centurion 26 Mar 2023
Middlesex 254/3 19.2 won v Surrey The Oval 22 Jun 2023
Gladiators 253/8 20.0 lost v Sultans Rawalpindi 11 Mar 2023
Credit: Cricinfo Statsguru

The match between Punjab and Kolkata was also the highest-ever successful chase in a T20 game, with Punjab chasing down the target of 262 with eight balls to spare.

Advertisement

Bengaluru’s effort of 262/7 in a chase of 288 was the highest-ever score in an unsuccessful chase in a T20 game.

Top 5 highest team totals this season

Team Score Overs Inns Opposition Ground Match Date
SRH 287/3 20.0 1 v RCB Bengaluru 15 Apr 2024
SRH 277/3 20.0 1 v MI Hyderabad 27 Mar 2024
KKR 272/7 20.0 1 v DC Visakhapatnam 3 Apr 2024
SRH 266/7 20.0 1 v DC Delhi 20 Apr 2024
RCB 263/5 20.0 1 v Warriors Bengaluru 23 Apr 2013
Credit: Cricinfo Statsguru

Unsurprisingly, with the way that the teams batted across the league, it is no surprise that the 2024 season saw the 200-run threshold being crossed a whopping 41 times, the last time being in the second-last league game of the season where Hyderabad chased down a target of 215 against Punjab.

The 2017 season saw teams cross the 200+ threshold only ten times.

Batting records

Most sixes hit in IPL 2024

Player Matches Runs Highest score Average Strike rate 100 50 4s 6s
Abhishek Sharma (SRH) 16 484 75* 32.26 204.21 0 3 36 42
Heinrich Klaasen (SRH) 16 479 80* 39.91 171.07 0 4 19 38
Virat Kohli (RCB) 15 741 113* 61.75 154.69 1 5 62 38
Nicolas Pooran (LSG) 14 499 75 62.37 178.21 0 3 35 36
Rajat Patidar (RCB) 15 395 55 30.38 177.13 0 5 21 33
Credit: Cricinfo Statsguru

This was also the season that saw the most number of sixes being hit by batters with the ball clearing the boundary ropes 1260 times.

Advertisement

Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Abhishek Sharma hit 42 sixes, the most by a batter this season. It meant that more than half of his 484 runs came through sixes (252).

Highest run-getters in IPL history

Player Span Matches Runs Highest score Average Strike rate 100 50
Virat Kohli (RCB) 2008-2024 252 8004 113* 38.66 131.97 8 55
Shikhar Dhawan (DC/DCH/MI/PBKS/SRH) 2008-2024 222 6769 106* 35.25 127.14 2 51
Rohit Sharma (DCH/MI) 2008-2024 257 6628 109* 29.72 131.14 2 43
David Warner (DC/SRH) 2009-2024 184 6565 126 40.52 139.77 4 62
Suresh Raina (CSK/GL) 2008-2021 205 5528 100* 32.51 136.73 1 39
Credit: Cricinfo Statsguru

While his team faltered at the Eliminator after sneaking into the playoffs, Bengaluru’s Virat Kohli was in imperious form this season. The Indian batter won the Orange Cap (for most runs scored in an IPL season) with 741 runs in 15 matches. But more importantly, Kohli became the first player to cross 8000 runs overall in IPL history across 252 matches.

The next-best batter is Shikhar Dhawan who has 6769 runs in 222 matches, having played for five different teams so far.

Most runs in a single IPL season

Player Year Matches Runs Highest score Average Strike rate 100 50
Virat Kohli (RCB) 2016 16 973 113 81.08 152.03 4 7
Shubman Gill (GT) 2023 17 890 129 59.33 157.80 3 4
Jos Buttler (RR) 2022 17 863 116 57.53 149.05 4 4
David Warner (SRH) 2016 17 848 93* 60.57 151.42 0 9
Virat Kohli (RCB) 2024 15 741 113* 61.75 154.69 1 5
Credit: Cricinfo Statsguru

Kohli’s aggregate of 741 runs is the fifth highest total scored by a single batter in one IPL season. The highest is also Kohli back in 2016 when he scored 973 runs with four centuries and seven half-centuries.

Most centuries scored in a T20 league

Tournament Matches Centuries
NatWest T20 Blast (in England), 2017 124 17
Vitality Blast (in England), 2018 127 15
Vitality Blast (in England), 2023 132 14
Indian Premier League 2024 71 14
NatWest T20 Blast (in England), 2015 126 13
Credit: Cricinfo Statsguru

Compared to previous seasons of the IPL, the 2024 season had the most number of centuries being scored by batters. It is also the fourth-highest number of centuries among T20 leagues across the world.

Advertisement

These 14 centuries were scored by 13 different batters with Jos Buttler scoring two centuries. The highest individual score belonged to Marcus Stoinis, who struck 124 off 63 balls, in Lucknow Super Giants’ win over Chennai.

Bowling records

Highest wicket-takers in IPL 2024

Position Player Matches Wickets Best figures Average Economy Strike rate 4W 5W
1 Harshal Patel (PBKS) 14 24 3/15 19.87 9.73 12.25 0 0
2 Varun Chakaravarthy (KKR) 15 21 3/16 19.14 8.04 14.28 0 0
3 Jasprit Bumrah (MI)  13 20 5/21 16.80 6.48 15.55 0 1
4 T Natarajan (SRH) 14 19 4/19 24.47 9.05 16.21 1 0
5 Harshit Rana (KKR) 13 19 3/24 20.15 9.08 13.31 0 0
Credit: IPLt20.com

Punjab’s Harshal Patel picked up the Purple Cap (for most wickets taken) despite his team not having made it to the playoffs. But what is interesting about this year’s list is that the top five bowlers are all Indians.

The last time this happened was back in 2021, when Patel had also won the Purple Cap, with Bengaluru, and in 2010 with Pragyan Ojha (then playing for the now defunct Deccan Chargers) at the top of the list.

Highest wicket-takers in IPL history

Player Span Matches Wickets Best bowling figures Average Economy Strike rate 4W 5W
Yuzvendra Chahal (MI/RCB/RR) 2013-2024 160 205 5/40 22.44 7.84 17.17 6 1
Piyush Chawla (CSK/KKR/KXIP/MI) 2008-2024 192 192 4/17 26.60 7.96 20.05 2 0
Dwayne Bravo (CSK/GL/MI) 2008-2022 161 183 4/22 23.82 8.38 17.04 2 0
Bhuvneshwar Kumar (PWI/SRH) 2011-2024 176 181 5/19 27.23 7.56 21.60 2 2
Sunil Narine (KKR) 2012-2024 177 180 5/19 25.39 6.73 22.63 7 1
Ravichandran Ashwin (CSK/DC/KXIP/RPS/RR) 2009-2024 212 180 4/34 29.82 7.12 25.13 1 0
Credit: Cricinfo Statsguru

In the league stage match against Mumbai on April 23, Chahal crossed an important milestone as he picked up his 200th IPL wicket. The only bowler to cross the mark so far, Chahal finished the 2024 season with 18 wickets to his name, rounding off the top 10 wicket-takers list.