The Indian Premier League 2023 is halfway through, and there has already been a lot of exciting cricket. The fierce rivalry among the teams in nearly every match in the world’s toughest league has undoubtedly lived up to its hype.
Due to the nature of the competition, four teams that have won four of their seven games are competing for third and fourth place. This edition is one of the best in recent memory due to the quality of all ten teams, the new Impact Player Rule, close games, and the crowded points table.
However, one aspect of the competition that has not changed since its inception is the high success rate of teams that perform well at home. This is true because the Mumbai Indians and the Chennai Super Kings have the highest percentage of home victories in the IPL. These are the IPL’s most successful teams.
However, home advantage has not materialized for some teams. Ironically, these teams have been hurt by the nature of the pitches on their home fields. Let’s take a look at these three teams to learn why the tracks they play on at home have actually been detrimental.
1) Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB)
The Royal Challengers Bangalore have won four of their first eight games, which is a mixed start to their Tata IPL 2023 campaign. Due to the upcoming Karnataka Assembly Elections, the team has played six of their first eight games at home.
The team has won three of these six games. Although the record may appear to be poor, the Chinaswamy wicket in Bangalore has been a batter’s paradise, necessitating a total of 200 or more.
However, RCB frequently falter after a strong start due to the struggles of the batting line-up beyond Glenn Maxwell, Faf Du Plessis, and Virat Kohli. This prompts them missing the mark regarding the resistance’s objective or the 200-run mark while batting first.
This shortcoming has been apparent in RCB’s exhibitions against the Delhi Capitals, Chennai Super Rulers, and the Rajasthan Royals.
2) Kolkata Knight Riders
The Kolkata Knight Riders have three great spinners in Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy, and Suyash Sharma. They have generally been vigorously dependent on their tweakers to take care of business for them. Be that as it may, the ongoing pitches at the Eden Nurseries are pacy with fantastic bob and are, generally speaking, incredible for batting.
KKR have won only 1 out of their 3 games at home. At least one team has scored more than 200 points in each of these games. KKR’s only home victory thus far this season has come against RCB, when their spinners took nine wickets. In this game, the pitch had some turn and slowness.
However, the KKR spinners have largely been unable to turn on the pitches at Eden Gardens, and the ball has bounced nicely off the bat. The two-time champions’ poor home record has been exacerbated by a few significant defeats as a result.
3) Mumbai Indians
Like KKR, MI have won only 1 out of their initial 3 games at home. Lasith Malinga, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, Mitchell McClenaghan, and others have traditionally led MI’s bowling attack. However, MI has lost the majority of their golden side since the mega-auction prior to IPL 2022. MI’s bowling attack is struggling because Bumrah is injured and all other bowlers have retired or switched teams.
The Wankhede Stadium is well-known for being a batters’ dream venue, where scores of 200 or more are common. Nonetheless, the frail MI bowling assault has been swindled in the entirety of their three games at home. This pattern was most evident when MI played PBKS recently, with the visitors scoring 214/8 in their first innings. As a result, the team’s fortress at MI, which has historically served them well, is now becoming a vulnerable fortress.