IPL 2016: Leading Run-Scorers, Wicket-Takers, T20 Averages and More

Royal Challengers Bangalore’s Virat Kohli continued his superb Indian Premier League Twenty20 form on Monday, adding 75 runs to his impressive tally to increase his lead in the top run-scorers’ race.

The Indian star leads team-mate AB de Villiers, who also impressed in the nine-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders and leads all batsmen with 32 sixes. Krunal Pandya of Mumbai Indians remains the strike-rate leader.

There were few top performances with the ball on Monday, as Kolkata’s Andre Russell failed to add to his total of wickets. He currently chases Mumbai’s Mitchell McClenaghan by two in the top wicket-takers’ rankings.

Here’s a look at the IPL’s top batsmen so far:

Pos	Player	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Avg	BF	SR
1	Virat Kohli	12	12	3	752	109	83.55	508	148.03
2	AB de Villiers	12	12	2	597	129*	59.70	344	173.54
3	David Warner	12	12	2	567	92	56.70	364	155.76
4	Rohit Sharma	13	13	3	459	85*	45.90	351	130.76
5	Gautam Gambhir	12	12	2	449	90*	44.90	360	124.72
6	Ajinkya Rahane	12	12	2	419	74	41.90	328	127.74
7	Shikhar Dhawan	12	12	4	402	82*	50.25	352	114.20
8	Quinton de Kock	10	10	1	381	108	42.33	258	147.67
9	Murali Vijay	12	12	1	378	89	34.36	315	120.00
10	Ambati Rayudu	13	12	1	334	65	30.36	278	120.14

The top wicket-takers:

Pos	Player	Mat	Inns	Overs	Runs	Wkts	BBI	Avg	Econ
1	Mitchell McClenaghan	13	13	49.3	398	17	4/21	23.41	8.04
2	Bhuvneshwar Kumar	12	12	46.0	355	16	4/29	22.18	7.71
3	Andre Russell	12	12	36.3	291	15	4/20	19.40	7.97
4	Mustafizur Rahman	12	12	45.0	300	14	3/16	21.42	6.66
5	Jasprit Bumrah	13	13	48.0	364	14	3/13	26.00	7.58
6	Shane Watson	12	12	42.3	361	14	3/24	25.78	8.49
7	Sandeep Sharma	12	12	43.0	308	13	2/11	23.69	7.16
8	Amit Mishra	11	11	37.0	280	13	4/11	21.53	7.56
9	Yuzvendra Chahal	9	9	34.1	267	12	3/19	22.25	7.81
10	Mohit Sharma	12	12	41.3	335	12	3/23	27.91	8.07

All statistics are courtesy of the IPL’s official website.

Bangalore still find themselves outside of the IPL’s play-off spots, but if the team does survive the group stage, it will be because of the batting brilliance of Kohli and De Villiers.

The former leads all batsmen in runs by some distance, impressing fans and pundits with every swing of his bat. Broken Cricket weighed in after the opener scored yet another half-century:

He and De Villiers may not have combined for the kind of historic total the duo put up against Gujarat Lions, but the fact their combined total of 134 came against Kolkata’s vaunted spinners makes their outing just as impressive.

DIBYANGSHU SARKAR/Getty Images

Only Sunil Narine, the West Indies spinner, grabbed a wicket on Monday, taking care of Chris Gayle in the eighth over. Against Kohli and De Villiers, even he had no answer.

Per ESPN Cricinfo, Kohli believes the partnership with De Villiers is helping his own game: "I told ABD we have to take the team home and he responded saying 'Yes, we will.' He never lets pressure get on to me. We run well between the wickets, and the opposition gets unsettled."

DIBYANGSHU SARKAR/Getty Images

It seems almost unfair to have two of the world’s best and most in-form batsmen combining like this, but the fact Bangalore still sit in fifth place in the standings despite their strong performances perhaps best illustrates the state of the team’s bowling.

Iqbal Abdulla (one for 22) looked solid in his four overs against Kolkata, but Shane Watson and Sreenath Aravind once again couldn’t keep their economy rate in the single digits.

DIBYANGSHU SARKAR/Getty Images

Kolkata struggled just as badly with the ball on Monday, as Russell, Morne Morkel and Piyush Chawla all finished with double-digit economy rates without taking a single wicket. Narine’s figures of one for 34 led the team, and that simply won’t cut it, even against a lineup as powerful as Bangalore’s.

The likes of Narine and Russell have bags of experience, however, and they tend to play their best when the pressure is on. Expect Kolkata’s bowlers to be as good as advertised once the play-offs start, taking the pressure off their talented but top-heavy lineup.

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