The league stage of IPL 2024 has come to an exciting close with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), Rajasthan Royals (RR), and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) emerging as the top four teams. One of these teams will lift the championship trophy this Sunday, May 26, at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.

The league round comprised 70 matches, featuring intense competition among the ten teams. Despite their efforts, Gujarat Titans, Lucknow Super Giants, Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals, and Punjab Kings ended up in the bottom six positions, missing out on the playoffs.

Overseas players have been instrumental in the success of the top four teams. SRH and RCB have been led by overseas captains Pat Cummins and Faf du Plessis, respectively. Meanwhile, Sunil Narine and Jos Buttler have played pivotal roles in KKR and RR’s journey to the playoffs. These players have been regular fixtures in their teams’ match squads whenever available, demonstrating their immense value.

While many overseas stars shone brightly, some highly talented foreign players did not get an opportunity to showcase their skills during the league stage of IPL 2024. Here are three notable players who remained on the bench throughout the season:

1. Kyle Mayers – Lucknow Super Giants

Kyle Mayers, who impressed as a first-choice opener for Lucknow Super Giants in IPL 2023, was surprisingly not given a single game this season. The Caribbean all-rounder had accumulated 379 runs in 13 innings at a strike rate of 144.11 last year, with a top score of 73.

Mayers also contributed with the ball, delivering seven overs of medium pace at a respectable economy rate of 8.43. Despite his strong performance in the previous season, Lucknow opted to stick with Quinton de Kock, who struggled with form. Mayers was only seen during pre-match practice sessions and post-match discussions, leaving fans and analysts puzzled over his exclusion.

2. Chris Woakes – Punjab Kings

Chris Woakes, who was acquired by Punjab Kings for a hefty sum of 14.2 crores, was another notable absentee from the playing XI throughout the league stage. Woakes is a proven match-winner in international cricket, capable of making significant contributions with both bat and ball.

It was anticipated that he would share the new ball with Sam Curran or Arshdeep Singh. However, PBKS chose not to utilize Woakes, except for the final match against Sunrisers Hyderabad, where he was unavailable. The decision to keep such a valuable player on the bench has been widely criticized.

3. Glenn Phillips – Sunrisers Hyderabad

Glenn Phillips, regarded as one of the most versatile players in world cricket, did not get a chance to play for Sunrisers Hyderabad this season. Known for his aggressive batting, effective spin bowling, exceptional fielding, and wicket-keeping skills, Phillips remained on the sidelines.

SRH’s reliance on Travis Head and Heinrich Klaasen, who have been in superb form, along with captain Pat Cummins occupying one of the overseas slots, left no room for Phillips. The fourth overseas spot was rotated between Marco Jansen and Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, further limiting Phillips’ opportunities.

See Also: PCB eyes Vivian Richards for mentor role in T20 World Cup 2024

As the league stage concludes, all eyes are now on the playoffs. Fans eagerly await to see which team will emerge victorious at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on May 26. With the top four teams featuring a blend of domestic talent and overseas prowess, the final showdown promises to be a thrilling culmination to another memorable IPL season.

Glenn Phillips has been creating an image across the globe, with his dynamic style of play packed with some eye pleasing strokes and brute power hitting. He has played multiple leagues across the world and has created a wonderful impact with both the bat and the field. Even more noteworthy has been his T20I performances for New Zealand over the last couple of years.

Glenn Phillips has been the pillar of New Zealand’s middle order batting in the T20I’s, and this is largely due to his adaptive style of play. Depending on the run of play, he either adapts to an aggressive style of play with quick cameos or he plays a composed and strike rotated innings. For context, his innings against Sri Lanka in the 2022 T20 world cup, where he registered a fantastic hundred under tough circumstances demonstrates his prowess and he was the only player to cross the 35-run mark in the match.

In the past couple of years, Phillips has faced 19% of the total deliveries faced by New Zealand batters in the middle overs and has scored 21% of the team runs in this phase, both of which are the most among any batter in the Kiwis team. He has also been equally impactful in the death overs, scoring 14% of NZ’s death runs since 2022.

In this context, we will conduct a metric analysis to assess Phillips’ impact relative to other players in his team and among other international team players. Here, we will consider a metric called the Adjusted score to rank the best bowlers. But before we delve into this metric, we need a brief introduction to the Adjusted NBSR factor and Adjusted boundary percent factor.

The Adjusted NBSR factor is a metric that explains how a batsman’s Non boundary strike rate (NBSR) stands out with respect to the average non boundary strike rate of all batsmen. Likewise, the Adjusted boundary percent factor explains how a batsman’s boundary percentage stands out with respect to the average boundary percentage of all batsmen. Finally, the Adjusted score is the multiplication value of Adjusted NBSR factor and Adjusted boundary percent factor. The higher this value, the better is the performance of the batsman.

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Glenn Phillips’ impact in comparison to other Kiwi Batsmen

The tabular heatmap shades the lower values with green and as the values keep increase, the colour transitions from green to a shade of yellow and red. The metrics have been calculated for the top 15 run scorers for New Zealand since 2022.

A glance of the chart reveals that, since 2022, James Neesham has emerged as the most impactful batsman for New Zealand. However, a more thorough examination uncovers that Glenn Phillips has accumulated 914 runs in T20Is during the same period, surpassing all other New Zealand batters. In contrast, Neesham, who has also displayed remarkable prowess, has secured 408 runs. Sustaining such consistency as the run tally climbs is a formidable challenge, but Phillips has defied the odds.

Mark Chapman has stood up the occasion on multiple occasions for New Zealand, scoring 716 runs, second only to Phillips. Though the former has a marginally higher boundary percent in comparison to the latter, Phillips edges Chapman with a higher non boundary strike rate value of 79 (in comparison to Chapman’s 70).

Glenn Phillips’ impact in comparison to other International Batsmen

Phillip’s impact has not only been significant in the middle overs but also in the death overs, so we will be ranking his performance in both the phases

Middle Overs

The metrics in this phase have been calculated by considering the top 25 batsmen in this phase since 2022.

Glenn Phillips’ has come third in the list of top ranked batsman in this phase and his fellow kiwi, Mark Chapman takes charge this time and occupies the second spot. But Phillips having score 666 runs (Second most among all the batsmen) in this phase has maintained a wonderful record over Chapman, who has scored 528 runs.

A notable insight from the analysis is that Phillips and Chapman have collectively accounted for 37.5% of New Zealand’s runs during the middle overs since 2022, demonstrating their ability to carry the team during challenging phases of the game.

Death Overs

The metrics in this phase have been calculated by considering the top 15 batsmen in this phase since 2022. Here we consider the Adjusted strike rate (SR) factor over the NBSR factor.

What makes Glenn Phillips stand out to his other batting partners is his ability to shift gears in the death overs. He is ranked 4th among all the batsmen in the death, possessing a strike rate of 201 with a boundary percentage of 27. He also has a low dot ball percentage of 26.44, which is the lowest among the top 5 batsmen in this list.

Another noteworthy aspect is that, even though he occupies a middle-order batting position, he has contributed nearly 15 percent of New Zealand’s runs in the death overs, second only to James Neesham, who has accounted for 20 percent of the team’s runs during this phase.