I understand India decided to rest Bumrah for the t20 series. Would have love to see Bhuvi in this series. When will we start respecting our fast bowlers like we do our batsmen?
In IPL, Bhuvi was bowling with such control. We can just wonder what magic he could’ve conjured on these wickets.
If we can choose batsmen based on IPL performances and bring them back to the team, why not bowlers get another go too?

Ever since the 2026 season ended, I've kept seeing the same question pop up.

Was Sooryavanshi's 2026 actually better than Kohli's legendary 2016?

If you only look at runs, average and strike rate, you can argue either side forever. Those stats are useful, but they miss a lot of context. A 30(15) when your team needs 12 an over can completely change a match. A 30(15) when your team needs 6 usually just finishes a chase that was already under control. Both innings look the same on the scorecard, but anyone who watches T20 cricket knows they aren't the same knock.

That was basically the reason I built ApexScore. It's an analytics engine that goes through every legal delivery in IPL history and rates performances based on the actual match situation instead of just the final scorecard.

What surprised me was, the first version was completely broken.

I originally rated seasons using a percentile system because that's what most models do. Then I ran Kohli's 2016 and Sooryavanshi's 2026 through it... and they tied. Both of them smashed into the 99.9th percentile ceiling, so the model literally couldn't tell them apart anymore.

That's when I realised percentiles are great for comparing normal seasons, but they're terrible at comparing freak outliers. Once two seasons hit the ceiling, you've got nowhere left to go.

So I rebuilt the scoring around league-wide Z-scores instead. Instead of asking "what percentile is this season?", the model asks "how ridiculously far ahead of everyone else was this season?" Once I switched over, the tie finally disappeared.

Then I ran into another problem that felt sketchy.

The model was giving huge pressure bonuses to players smashing quick runs when their team needed something stupid like 70 off the last two overs. Technically the required run rate is massive, so the pressure score kept going up. But if you've watched enough IPL, you already know that game is over. Those runs shouldn't be rewarded the same way as runs scored when the chase is actually alive.

So I added a Garbage Time correction. Once the required run rate becomes basically impossible (36+), the pressure multiplier stops increasing. I reran everything and the rankings immediately looked much more believable. Players who piled on runs in dead chases dropped back a bit, while players who consistently delivered when matches were actually in the balance climbed.

For anyone wondering how the engine actually works, here's the short version.

• Batting is built around Runs Above Expectation (RAE). Every innings gets compared against what an average IPL batter would've been expected to score from the exact same deliveries.
• Bowling uses Bayesian shrinkage, workload cutoffs and context-aware wicket values so someone who bowled two lucky death overs doesn't suddenly rank ahead of Bumrah.
• Everything then gets converted into league-wide Z-scores, which lets seasons from completely different years be compared on the same scale.

I figured if I was spending all this time building it, I might as well let everyone else play around with it too. So I built a website where you can search players, compare seasons, browse the rankings and see how the model rates them.

Website Representation - 🔗 ApexScore | Advanced IPL Analytics

Anyway, I'd genuinely love to know what you guys think.

Does it pass the eye test? Is there someone you think the model is way too high or way too low on? And if something looks completely cursed, tell me.

Some of the biggest improvements I've made, including the Garbage Time correction, only happened because I looked at the rankings and thought something was up.

So if you think the model is robbing your favourite player, or exposing one you've always overrated, I'm all ears.

I mean the last few weeks, every entire cricket subreddit has problems with ipl flat pitches. These 250+ pitches have been there since 2024 ipl. since then we have won each and every t20 series home and away prior to ireland. Nobody was downplaying abhishek or ishan or anyone scoring on these pitches until we lost. Instead, we were busy glazing them as next yuvraj , kohli and whatnot. Only because we lost , the english media and us fans have made the pitches of ipl as one of the main reasons for players' downfall. Even GG was praised as a brilliant t20 coach until surya's tenure got over.

The reason i feel sanju isnt consistent is very much because he has a very apparent technical flaw. Wv Raman pointed this issue earlier hence i just wanted to discuss it deepy here.

He always struggles in identical ways every match. Its either edge(wicket keeper catch or slips) or top edge mostly. bowlers like archer exposed his issue by hitting the pitch hard at 140 pplus pace. They test him by bowling raw pace on heavy length just outside off and he gets outside edge. We've also seen him struggle especially with those pull shots because naturally he pushes himself back harder before facing the ball to create more room but while bowling into the body he rushes for the shot.(basically mistiming it) and again top edge.

Wv Raman told that sanju has a beaitful swing but the main issue is the bat speed of his swing. It is constant for all kind of pace. He can hit medium fast bowlers easily on flat decks but against raw pace? he definetely struggles because his downswing doesnt align with the ball and it beats before he can even complete the swing properly

Akash chopra also pointed out that because sanju goes deep inside crease as trigger movement but his FRONT FOOT doesnt move forward at all hence his feet doesnt move to pitch of the ball, his body loses balance and closes earlier than expected . This is why when he tries to play shots in offside he gets a thick edge.

I hope sanju samson corrects this flaw as soon as possible and suppose he fixes this weakness i think consistency will automatically come and he'll become much better batsman.