IPL 2022 Special: Strongest Left-handed vs Right-handed Playing 11

Hardik Pandya and David Warner to lead as we look at the best performing left-handed vs right-handed playing 11 for IPL 2022. 

The IPL 2022 season is in the business end of the tournament, and it is living up to its expectations of giving its fans a lot of excitement in terms of Playoffs qualification. Not only teams but the players also bring a lot of excitement and franchise love that attracts a lot of fan base. 

As history has seen, the tournament has given us a lot of legendary left-handed and right-handed batters and bowlers since its inception. Be it legendary Chris Gayle, Ab de Villiers, Virender Sehwag, Lasith Malinga, or Zaheer Khan, there has been a mixed bag of opposite-handed players to have rocked the game. 

The current  IPL 2022 tournament is no different. Although the presence of right-handed players is on a higher side, the left-handed ones are not far behind. So, in this interesting article, we will compare the best performing left-handed and right-handed playing 11 that has impressed in the tournament so far. 

Methodology:

To remove any biases and perceptions, we have selected the players, basis their performance only for this IPL. The playing 11 is selected on the basis of having 2 openers, 2-3 middle-order batters, at least 1 finisher, at least 1 spinner, and at least 3 pacers. Moreover, the rule of 4 overseas players is also given due attention. 

Openers:

Team Left-handed: Shikhar Dhawan & David Warner 

Team Right-handed: Jos Buttler & KL Rahul 

Comparing the openers of both the teams, Team LH has the former SRH openers, David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan. Whereas the Team RH has the current Orange Cap leader Jos Buttler and Mr Consistent KL Rahul. These four are the leading run-scorers for their respective teams, and have done better than any other batters out there. 

In terms of stats, Jos Buttler is the best of these four batters with 625 runs from 12 innings at an average of 56.8, a strike rate of 149.9, and a consistency of 66.7%. Team LH’s David Warner follows him with 427 runs from 10 innings at an average of 61, a strike rate of 152.5, and 70% consistency. KL Rahul has 459 runs from 12 innings at a consistency of 50%. Whereas Shikhar Dhawan has 381 runs from 11 innings at a consistency of 54.5%. 

Middle-order:

Team Left-handed: Tilak Varma, David Miller & Nicholas Pooran 

Team Right-handed: Surykumar Yadav, Aiden Markram & Hardik Pandya 

Coming to the middle-order of the Left-Handers, Tilak Varma has been the best left-hander batter for Mumbai Indians this season. He currently has 368 runs from 12 innings at an average of 40.9, a strike rate of 132.9 and a consistency of 72.7%. Suryakumar Yadav, his right-handed counterpart has also been Mumbai Indians’ shining star in a diminishing campaign. While SKY has been ruled out of the tournament due to injury, he still scored valuable 303 runs from 8 innings at an average of 43.3 and consistency of 62.5%. 

Next in line are David Miller and Nicholas Pooran from Team LH and Hardik Pandya and Aiden Markram from Team RH. While Miller has 332 runs at a strike rate of 141.3 batting at 5 or below, Pooran has 261 runs at a strike rate of 147.5 batting at 5. For Team RH, Hardik has been a step up with his batting and has scored 344 runs at an average of 38.2 and strike rate of 131.8. Whereas Aiden Markram has a stunning average of 65.2 from the 326 runs he has scored so far. 

Finishers:

Team Left-handed: Shimron Hetmyer

Team Right-handed: Andre Russell & Dinesh Karthik 

The Team LH has Shimron Hetmyer at their disposal. Both have been brilliant finishers for their respective teams. Shimron Hetmyer has scored a lot of quick cameos and in the process has scored 291 runs at a brilliant strike rate of 166.3. Unfortunately, Team LH doesn’t have any good all-rounder to be included in the playing 11. 

Coming to the best finishers for Team RH, look no beyond Andre Russell and Dinesh Karthik. While Russell has the best all-rounder of the season with 281 runs and 14 wickets to his name, Dinesh Karthik has undoubtedly been the best finisher of the season, and has scored 274 runs at an amazing strike rate of 200.

Bowlers:

Team Left-handed: Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Choudhary, Kuldeep Yadav, Khaleel Ahmed & T Natarajan

Coming to the bowlers, Team LH has 4 pacers and 1 spin combo of Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Choudhary, Khaleel Ahmed, T Natarajan, and Kuldeep Yadav. While Mukesh Choudhary and Khaleel Ahmed are brilliant powerplay bowlers, Kuldeep Yadav controls the game in the middle overs and T Natarajan is a brilliant death overs bowler. 

In terms of starts, Kuldeep is the leading wicket-taker for Team LH with 18 wickets from 12 games at an economy rate of 8.7 and consistency of 41.7%. T Natarajan and Khaleel Ahmed have 17 wickets from 9 games and 16 wickets from 8 games respectively. Both have been brilliant, but missed matches on account of injuries.

Meanwhile, Mukesh Choudhary has been impressive in his debut season with 16 wickets from 11 games at a consistency of 45.5%. He has been a brilliant powerplay bowler. Whereas Arshdeep Singh might not have many wickets, but has been one of the best death overs bowlers this IPL. He currently has 6 wickets from 11 games at an economy rate of 7.8. 

Team Right-handed: Wanindu Hasaranga, Umesh Yadav, Avesh Khan & Yuzvendra Chahal

Coming to Team RH, Avesh Khan leads the way as a brilliant pacer alongside Umesh Yadav, who too has been impressive this season. Supporting them are two brilliant leggies and leading wicket-takers Yuzvendra Chahal and Wanindu Hasaranga. All four bring unique skillets to the table with brilliant support from Andre Russell and Hardik Pandya as and when required. 

In terms of stats, Yuzvendra Chahal is the Purple Cap leader with 23 wickets to his name from 12 games at a consistency of 66.7%. Hasaranga is not far behind with 21 wickets from 12 games at a consistency of 50%. Avesh Khan has been the most impressive right-handed pacer with 16 wickets from just 10 outings at a consistency of 60%. Whereas Umesh Yadav has taken 15 wickets from 10 games at a consistency of 60%.  

IPL 2022: Best Performing Left-handed Playing 11:

Shikhar Dhawan, David Warner (C), Tilak Varma, David Miller, Nicholas Pooran (WK), Shimron Hetmyer, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Choudhary & T Natarajan. 

IPL 2022: Best Performing Right-handed Playing 11:

Jos Buttler, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Aiden Markram, Hardik Pandya (C), Andre Russell, Dinesh Karthik (WK), Wanindu Hasaranga, Umesh Yadav, Avesh Khan & Yuzvendra Chahal 

So, that completes the strongest Left-handed vs Right-handed playing 11 comparison for IPL 2022. Overall, batting for the Team RH XI looks stronger with brilliant openers and finishers, but the middle-order seems better for Team LH. Whereas the pace department of Team LH is better than that of RH, but spin department seems better for Team RH.

Apart from these, the other players who were in contention include Umran Malik, Mohammed Shami, Shahbaz Ahmed, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Kagiso Rabada, Mohsin Khan, Liam Livingstone, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Faf du Plessis, Deepak Hooda, and Shubman Gill. 

Thanks for reading! Which IPL 2022 playing 11 looks the best according to you? Left-handed or Right-handed? Please email your thoughts to business@cricalytics.com.

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