IPL 2023: The Strongest vs 2nd Best Superstar 11 of the Season

Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli opposite each other as we look at the strongest vs 2nd Best Team of the Tournament for IPL 2023.

An amazing season of the Indian Premier League comes to a beautiful end with Chennai Super Kings being crowned as the champions of IPL 2023 with Gujarat Titans as the Runner-up. CSK under the able leadership of MS Dhoni recorded their fifth trophy victory; thus leveling them with MI, who too have 5 trophies to their name. 

Over the tournament, we have seen some extremely great performances from individual players from different teams. Seeing the performance of players in different categories like Openers, Middle-order, Pacers, Spinners, etc., selecting the best performing 11 from the available pool of players, and leaving some is always the most difficult task. 

Hence, in this article, we shall take an interesting shot by analyzing the two best-performing 11. That way, we will not miss out on any quality player, who otherwise wouldn’t have had the limelight while selecting only 11 names. Also, as per the leading website, Betway Satta, Gujarat Titans had the best odds for winning the IPL at 1.2. 

Meanwhile, the objective of the article is to find the strongest playing 11 and the 2nd-best playing 11 of the tournament. To find out the players, we shall remove any biases or perceptions, and stick to our tried and tested unique methodology. Also, the selected 11 shall not have more than 4 overseas players, and will have a minimum of 1 wicket-keeper, 4 pure batters, and 5 bowling options.  

Cricalytics Stats Wizard Methodology:

Batting: The batting performances are analyzed basis of the batting rating calculated from the overall aspect of the game such as runs scored, consistency, the number of match-winning & good knocks, acceleration bonus, and power-hitting bonus. 

Bowling: The bowling performances are analyzed basis of the bowling rating calculated from the overall aspect of the game such as wickets taken, consistency, the number of match-winning and good spells, the number of maidens bowled, and the economy rate bonus.

IPL 2023 Strongest vs Second-best Team of the Tournament:

Top-order:

Faf du Plessis, Shubman Gill & Yashasvi Jaiswal vs Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway & Virat Kohli

Talking about the strongest vs 2nd-best top-order of IPL 2023, we have Faf du Plessis, Shubman Gill, and Yashasvi Jaiswal from Strongest 11, and Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway, and Virat Kohli from 2nd-best 11. It’s no secret that these six form the best top-order of the tournament. Even as all six are openers, we can’t ignore any player, and them playing at 3 shouldn’t be an issue either. 

Of the six, Shubman Gill has been the standout batter with an Orange cap to his name at 890 runs. Faf du Plessis with 730 runs has been equally impressive, but at a better consistency of 80% as compared to Gill’s 71.6%. Whereas Yashasvi Jaiswal has been a beast uncapped player with 625 runs at an amazing strike rate of 163.6; the best among the top 10 leading run scorers. 

Having said that, the 2nd-best 11 is no rookie either. The successful duo of Devon Conway and Ruturaj Gaikwad opens in this team with the ever-reliable Virat Kohli at 3. Conway and Kohli are the third and fourth highest run-getters with 672 and 639 runs to them respectively. Whereas Ruturaj has been a good partner to Conway with 590 runs to his name.  

Middle-order:

Suryakumar Yadav & Rinku Singh vs Cameron Green & Glenn Maxwell 

Right, talking about the middle-order, it’s a fierce competition between Suryakumar Yadav and Rinku Singh from Strongest 11 vs Cameron Green and Glenn Maxwell from 2nd best 11. Ignoring the stats, it’s very difficult to find a better middle-order from this because the combination kind of nullifies each other.

However, when it comes to stats, SKY and Rinku look solid. SKY has scored a total of 605 runs at an average of 43.2 and a strike rate of 181; the highest among the top 15 leading run-getters.  Whereas Rinku, the leading run-scorer for KKR has 474 runs at a good average of 59.3 and strike rate of 149.5. His average is only second-best to Gill’s 59.33. 

In comparison, Green and Maxwell aren’t bad either. The pace all-rounder, Cameron Green has scored a stunning 452 runs for MI at an average of 50.2 and a strike rate of 160.3. He has also taken 6 wickets this season. Whereas Maxwell has had another successful season with 400 runs to his name from 14 innings at a fantastic strike rate of 183.5; the highest this season with 200+ runs. 

Finishers:

Heinrich Klaasen & Ravindra Jadeja vs Shivam Dube & Axar Patel

Coming to the finishers, we have Heinrich Klaasen and Ravindra Jadeja for the team Strongest 11 and Shivam Dube and Axar Patel for the team 2nd-best 11. Statistically, there doesn’t seem much to differentiate between these two with the duo of Klaasen and Axar being slightly better overall.

Klaasen, the leading run-getter for SRH has scored a solid 448 runs from just 11 innings at a superb average of 49.8 and a strike rate of 177. What’s awesome for Klaasen is the consistency of 84.2; the best among all players. Whereas Dube has scored a good 418 runs at a good average of 38 and a strike rate of 158.3; providing a lot of crucial knocks this season.  

For the all-rounder slot, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel are neck-and-neck. While Jadeja has scored 190 runs at a strike rate of 142.9, Axar has scored 283 runs at a strike rate of 139.8. In the bowling department, Jadeja has taken a solid 20 wickets in comparison to Axar Patel’s 11 wickets. So, overall, Jadeja has been a better all-rounder of the two. 

Bowlers:

Rashid Khan, Matheesha Pathirana, Mohammed Shami & Mohit Sharma vs Piyush Chawla, Akash Madhwal, Mohammed Siraj & Yuzvendra Chahal

Coming to the bowling comparison, we have Rashid Khan, Matheesha Pathirana, Mohammed Shami, and Mohit Sharma for Strongest 11 and we have Piyush Chawla, Akash Madhwal, Mohammed Siraj, and Yuzvendra Chahal for 2nd best 11. On paper, Strongest 11 may feel a little better, but 2nd Best 11 is no novice either. 

Of the eight bowlers, the trio of Rashid, Shami, and Mohit has been standout this season with a combined 82 wickets for them this season. Unsurprisingly, they are the leading wicket-takers this season with Shami at 28, Rashid and Mohit at 27. Whereas Pathirana has been a star performer for CSK with 19 wickets at a superb average of 19.5.

For 2nd-Best 11, Piyush Chawla and Yuzvendra Chahal have been the leading bowlers for their respective teams with 22 and 21 wickets respectively. Madhwal has been the best performer in crucial games with a total of 14 wickets from just 8 games. Whereas Siraj has been exceptional for RCB with 19 wickets from 14 games at a good average of 19.8 and an economy rate of 7.5. 

IPL 2023 – The Best Team of the Tournament:

Faf du Plessis, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav, Rinku Singh, Henrich Klaasen [wk], Ravindra Jadeja, Rashid Khan, Matheesha Pathirana, Mohammed Shami & Mohit Sharma

IPL 2023 – The Alternate Best Team of the Tournament:

Devon Conway [wk], Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Cameron Green, Glenn Maxwell, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Piyush Chawla, Akash Madhwal, Mohammed Siraj & Yuzvendra Chahal.

So, that’s about the comparison for the Strongest vs 2nd best team of the tournament for IPL 2023. It has been some outstanding individual performances from the players, hence we were able to come up with this analysis. 

Thanks for reading! What’s your Best team of the tournament for IPL 2023? Please email your thoughts to business@cricalytics.com.

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ALSO READ: IPL 2023: Complete Official Salary Details for All 243 Players

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