Super Kings, making their ECS debut, reigned supreme at FanCode ECS Malta. Led by Malta national team skipper Bikram Arora, SKI boasted an overall win-loss record of 15-3 before coming into the series and were huge favourites to clinch the FanCode ECS Malta title. Living up to expectations, SKI went unbeaten in the tournament, winning 11 matches in a row to take the crown in the second edition in Malta.
We take a look at Super Kings' dominant performance and what made SKI stand out from the competition.
Batting
Super Kings scored a total of 1280 runs in 11 matches. The below graphic clearly shows their dominance with the bat, averaging more runs per match than any other team in the tournament. While the average runs scored in the first innings in the tournament was 92, SKI scored, on average, a mind-boggling 142 runs every time batting first. Interestingly, their average second innings score is less than quite a few teams, but that is only because SKI restricted their opponents to below par totals on all four occasions bowling first.
Super Kings scored their runs in double quick time, striking at over 213 runs every 100 balls faced. No other team in the tournament matched their hitting ability, with Overseas being the next best team with a strike rate of 170.21 No wonder SKI posted a record total ever in ECS history.
The FanCode ECS Malta champions averaged SEVEN 4s and SEVEN 6s every match, clearly the most for any team in the tournament. SKI batsmen hammered a total of 84 fours and 79 maximos. This bounty of boundaries accounted for over 63 percent of SKI total runs.
SKI's top order made the most of the fielding restrictions, averaging 30 runs in the Powerplay – only slightly behind the other finalists Overseas. Super Kings were brutal in the middle and death overs scoring more runs than any other team, amassing as many as 952 runs in the two phases combined.
SKI were able to score most runs at the back end of the innings because of losing the fewest number of wickets. Super Kings averaged just three wickets lost per match – the fewest of any team in the tournament. Having the liberty of wickets in hand allowed SKI to accelerate at full tempo during the latter half of the innings.
Three of the top 4 SKI batsmen feature in the most runs scored with MVP Varun Prasath leading the sheets racking up a staggering 351 runs in 10 innings. Captain Bikram Arora scored 216 runs while Affy Khan ended up with 194 runs. These three prolific batsmen did the bulk of the scoring for SKI and at the same time made sure not too many wickets were lost up front.
If SKI batsmen were brutal with the bat, their bowlers were equally lethal with the ball. SKI bowlers scalped 90 wickets in the 11 matches played – 29 more than the next best team, AUK who also played 11 games.
Picking up more wickets helped SKI restrict the flow of runs, conceding just 7.25 runs per over – the least by any team. The next best were AUK who conceded 7.52 runs every over.
The SKI bowling attack was led by the swing king – Ashok Bishnoi, who ended up as the leading wicket taker in the tournament picking up 20 wickets. As many as four SKI bowlers feature in the top 5 wicket takers list which clearly proves the authority SKI bowlers had with the ball in hand.
