Yet another season of the Indian Premier League stands done and dusted. One which saw a mountain of batting records tumble through its course. One which finished with its most expensive buy Mitchell Starc helping Kolkata Knight Riders lift their first trophy in a decade, beating Sunrisers Hyderabad by eight wickets in Chennai on Sunday, May 26. (As It Happened | Full Coverage)
While the Sunrisers Hyderabad batters, spurred by slam-bang openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma, made sixes and fours shockingly routine in the 2024 edition, few would have expected them to capitulate the way they did in the final.
The IPL 2024 summit clash lasted all of 29 overs, making it the shortest ever non-interrupted IPL play-off game. The previous shortest match lasted 32.2 overs, and was played between Royal Challengers Bangalore (now Royal Challengers Bengaluru) and Deccan Chargers (third place playoff) in Navi Mumbai, all the way back in 2010.
But that was a mere blip in what was a season marked with merciless hitting by batters across franchises. So much so that IPL 2024 recorded the following batting landmarks in the tournament's history:-
1. Highest run rate (9.56)
2. Most 200-plus totals (41)
3. Most sixes hit (1,260)
4. Most individual centuries scored (14)
5. Highest-ever IPL total (287/3 by SRH against RCB in Bengaluru)
6. Highest successful T20 chase (262 by Punjab Kings against KKR in Kolkata)
7. Highest-ever aggregate in a T20 match (549 runs in the SRH vs RCB match in Bengaluru)
The tournament ended with its most expensive buy Mitchell Starc (at INR 24.75 crore) winning back-to-back Player Of The Matches in the play-offs, thus upstaging compatriot Pat Cummins the same way he had at the IPL mini auction in December 2023.
