Here’s a question for you: back when the Indian Premier League started in September 2020, how many of you expected Ishan Kishan to be the tournament’s leading six-hitter?

That the Mumbai Indians batsman hit 30 sixes in IPL 2020 will go down as arguably the most jaw-dropping individual statistic of the season that produced many jaw-dropping moments and matches.

Here’s a look at the chart-toppers by various metrics as the 13th season of IPL came to a close with Mumbai Indians extending their record of most triumphs with fifth titles.

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Batting

KL Rahul’s season deserves to be dissected on its own for being a case study like no other. He now has two 600-plus seasons in IPL and one where he scored 593 in Kings XI Punjab colours. But sample this, for a conundrum:

In the 13 seasons of IPL, there have been 19 instances of players scoring 600+ runs in a season.

KL Rahul is in an elite group because he is among only 4 to have done it more than once.

KL Rahul’s SR of 129.34 in IPL2020 is the lowest among those 600-plus tallies.

Rahul won the Orange Cap yet again and rightly figures in most dream teams of the season (even ours) but there will always be a what if next to his 670-run tally in UAE.

It was also a special season for Dhawan, who hit 600-plus for the first time in his IPL career and became the first man to score back-to-back centuries in the tournament history.

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The top 10 had usual suspects like David Warner (only man to have three 600-plus seasons) and Virat Kohli but both will be feeling they could have done a bit better at the end of it all. And in good news for Indian cricket, three uncapped batsmen feature in the top 10.

Top run-scorers

Player Inns Runs HS SR 50 (100)
KL Rahul 14 670 132* 129.34 5 (1)
Shikhar Dhawan 17 618 106* 144.73 4 (2)
David Warner 16 548 85* 134.64 4
Shreyas Iyer 17 519 88* 123.27 3
Ishan Kishan 13 516 99 145.76 4
Quinton de Kock 16 503 78* 140.50 4
Suryakumar Yadav 15 480 79* 145.01 4
Devdutt Padikkal 15 473 74 124.80 5
Virat Kohli 15 466 90* 121.35 3
AB de Villiers 14 454 73* 158.74 5

Most 50-plus scores

Player Inns 50+ scores (100s)
KL Rahul 14 6 (1)
Shikhar Dhawan 17 6 (2)
AB de Villiers 14 5
Devdutt Padikkal 15 5
Faf du Plessis 13 4
Ishan Kishan 13 4
Suryakumar Yadav 15 4
Quinton de Kock 16 4
David Warner 16 4

Nicholas Pooran was arguably the most exciting overseas batsman of this season. His 17-ball half-century in a losing cause against SRH was an innings to behold, he finished second on the list of six-hitters and he was the only batsman to hit three sixes measured longer than 100 meters.

Fastest fifties

Player Against Venue Match Date Balls faced
Nicholas Pooran SRH Dubai 08 Oct 17
Sanju Samson CSK Sharjah 22 Sep 19
Kieron Pollard RCB Dubai  28 Sep 20
Hardik Pandya RR Abu Dhabi 25 Oct 20
Marcus Stoinis KXIP Dubai 20 Sep 20

Among the five centuries and two sensational 99s, Ben Stokes 107* against eventual champions Mumbai will likely go down as the best individual innings of the tournament.

Highest individual scores

Player Runs Balls Versus Ground Match Date
KL Rahul 132* 69 RCB Dubai 24 Sep
Ben Stokes 107* 60 MI Abu Dhabi 25 Oct
Shikhar Dhawan 106* 61 KXIP Dubai  20 Oct
Mayank Agarwal 106 50 RR Sharjah 27 Sep
Shikhar Dhawan 101* 58 CSK Sharjah 17 Oct
Ishan Kishan 99 58 RCB Dubai 28 Sep
Chris Gayle 99 63 RR Abu Dhabi 30 Oct

In the top 10 six-hitters, five Mumbai Indians players feature who hit a phenomenal 118 sixes among them.

Top 10 six-hitters

Player Innings Strike Rate Sixes hit
Ishan Kishan 13 145.76 30
Sanju Samson 14 158.89 26
Hardik Pandya 13 178.98 25
Nicholas Pooran 14 169.71 25
Eoin Morgan 14 138.41 24
Chris Gayle 7 137.14 23
KL Rahul 14 129.34 23
AB de Villiers 14 158.74 23
Kieron Pollard 12 191.42 22
Quinton de Kock 16 140.50 22
Rohit Sharma 12 127.69 19

Best rates of six-hitting

Player Inns SR 6s Balls faced per six
Hardik Pandya 13 178.98 25 6.3
Jofra Archer 10 179.36 10 6.3
Kieron Pollard 12 191.42 22 6.4
Nicholas Pooran 14 169.71 25 8.3
Sanju Samson 14 158.89 26 9.1
Chris Gayle 7 137.14 23 9.1
Criteria: At least 10 sixes hit in IPL 2020 (via iplt20.com)

Sixes longer than 100m

Player Distance (m)
Nicholas Pooran 106.00
Nicholas Pooran 105.00
Jofra Archer 105.00
Sanju Samson 102.00
MS Dhoni 102.00
Shane Watson 101.00
Nicholas Pooran 100.00
Ambati Rayudu 100.00
Aaron Finch 100.00

Top 10 four-hitters

Player Inns SR 4s
Shikhar Dhawan 17 144.73 67
Suryakumar Yadav 15 145.01 61
KL Rahul 14 129.34 58
David Warner 16 134.64 52
Devdutt Padikkal 15 124.80 51
Quinton de Kock 16 140.50 46
Shubman Gill 14 117.96 44
Mayank Agarwal 11 156.45 44
Nitish Rana 14 138.58 43
Faf du Plessis 13 140.75 42

Best rates of four-hitting

Player Inns SR 4s Balls per fours hit
Suryakumar 15 145.01 61 5.4
Ben Stokes 8 142.5 36 5.6
Nitish Rana 14 138.58 43 5.9
Ravindra Jadeja 11 171.85 22 6.1
Mayank Agarwal 11 156.45 44 6.2
Prithvi Shaw 13 136.52 27 6.2
Criteria: Min 20 fours hit in the season

There were five instances of 150-plus run partnerships in the tournament with two of them, rather surprisingly, coming against the champions Mumbai.

Best partnerships

Partners Runs Wicket No. Versus Ground Match Date
Rahul-Agarwal 183 1st RR Sharjah 27 Sep
Watson-Du Plessis 181* 1st KXIP Dubai 4 Oct
Warner-Bairstow 160 1st KXIP Dubai 8 Oct
Stokes-Samson 152* 3rd MI Abu Dhabi 25 Oct
Warner-Saha
151* 1st MI Sharjah 3 Nov

Bowling

The record of most wickets in a single season (32 by Dwayne Bravo) was under threat from Kagiso Rabada and Jasprit Bumrah but both of them fell short at the end. But take nothing away from the serious heat they, along with the likes of Jofra Archer, Trent Boult and Anrich Nortje, brought in what was a season for pace. The early prediction of the pitches getting tired and turning out to be slow and low was true eventually only in Sharjah but the pacers were effective throughout.

Top wicket-takers

Player Inns Wkts Econ SR 4+
Kagiso Rabada 17 30 8.34 13.13 2
Jasprit Bumrah 15 27 6.73 13.33 2
Trent Boult 15 25 7.97 13.76 1
Anrich Nortje 16 22 8.39 16.63 0
Yuzvendra Chahal 15 21 7.08 16.33 0
Rashid Khan 16 20 5.37 19.20 0
Jofra Archer 14 20 6.55 16.70 0
Md Shami 14 20 8.57 16.10 0
Varun CV
13 17 6.84 18.35 1
 T Natarajan 16 16 8.02 23.56 0

Sample this for a brilliant stat: Archer bowled dot balls with 52.4% deliveries he bowled. And considering he bowled in the powerplay as well as the death, that is a stunning number.

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And, after a rollercoaster start, Bumrah finished the season as a constant at the top in all of the key metrics, surprise surprise.

Most dot balls bowled

Player Inns Wkts Dots SR
Jofra Archer 14 20 175 16.70
Jasprit Bumrah 15 27 175 13.33
Rashid Khan 16 20 168 19.20
Anrich Nortje 16 22 160 16.63
Trent Boult 15 25 157 13.76

Percentage of dot balls bowled

Player Inns Overs bowled Wkts Dots SR % of dot balls
Jofra Archer 14 55.4 20 175 16.7 52.40%
Jasprit Bumrah 15 60 27 175 13.33 48.61%
Chris Morris 9 31.4 11 91 17.27 47.89%
Mohammed Siraj 9 27.1 11 77 14.81 47.24%
Trent Boult 15 57.2 25 157 13.76 45.64%

Rashid Khan once again proved hard to score off and was the only bowler to finish with 10-plus wickets and an economy rate of less than 6.00.

Best Economy Rate

Player Inns Wkts Econ
Rashid Khan 16 20 5.37
Washington Sundar 15 8 5.96
Axar Patel 15 9 6.41
Jofra Archer 14 20 6.55
Chris Morris 9 11 6.63
Criteria: Minimum 15 overs bowled

Best bowling Strike Rate

Player Inns Wkts SR
Lungi Ngidi 4 9 10.66
Jason Holder 7 14 12.00
Kagiso Rabada 17 30 13.13
Jasprit Bumrah 15 27 13.33
Marcus Stoinis 13 13 13.69
Criteria: Minimum 15 overs bowled

Best bowling figures (4-plus wickets)

Player Overs Mdns Figures Versus Ground Match Date
Varun CV 4.0 0 5/20 DC Abu Dhabi 24 Oct
Jasprit Bumrah 4.0 1 4/14 DC Dubai  5 Nov 
Trent Boult 4.0 1 4/18 CSK Sharjah 23 Oct 
Jasprit Bumrah 4.0 0 4/20 RR Abu Dhabi 6 Oct 
Kagiso Rabada 4.0 0 4/24 RCB Dubai  5 Oct 
Chris Morris 4.0 0 4/26 RR Dubai 17 Oct 
Kagiso Rabada 4.0 0 4/29 SRH Abu Dhabi 8 Nov 
Pat Cummins 4.0 0 4/34 RR Dubai  1 Nov

Wicketkeeping / fielding

Most wicketkeeping dismissals

Player Inns Total dismissals Caught / Stumping Dis/Inn
Quinton de Kock 16 22 18 / 4 1.375
MS Dhoni 14 16 15 / 1 1.142
Rishabh Pant 14 13 13 / 0 0.928
KL Rahul 11 10 10 / 0 0.909
AB de Villiers 13 10 9 / 1 0.769

Most catches

Player Inns Catches
Faf du Plessis 13 12
David Warner 16 12
Rahul Tewatia 14 9

Statistics courtesy iplt20.com and ESPNCricinfo.