Exclusive: Ranking the Best Pacers of All 10 Teams for IPL 2023

Royal Challengers Bangalore, with standout fast bowlers as we look at the rating and ranking of pacers of all the teams for IPL 2023. 

The Indian Premier League will be completely conducted in India after a gap of almost 3 years. We will finally see a Home and Away format which will allow the teams to play to their strengths. What that means is that not only will spinners play a good role, the pacers will have an equally important role with a lot of pitches favouring pace bowling. 

Thankfully, IPL 2023 shall see an abundance of quality pacers that will display their skill in the tournament. Every team is equipped with at least 4-5 good pacers in their side which will allow them to rotate the pacers in case of injury concerns.

The year should also see the return of Pace spearhead Jofra Archer alongside Jasprit Bumrah; thus making MI a strong pace team. According to this article from MyBettingSites India comparing IPL winner odds for 2023, Mumbai Indians are one of the teams most favoured teams by bookmakers to win the IPL trophy this year. 

But how about the ranking of the teams based on the pacers they have in their team? Well, this is exactly what we will find in this article. So, let’s look at the ranking and rating of the top pacers of all 10 teams for IPL 2023. Before that, let’s look at the stats wizard methodology that would help us arrive at the ranking. 

Methodology:

• Pacers are classified as three Solid Pacers, Primary backup Pacers, and Secondary backup Pacers
• To remove the biases or perceptions, all Pacers are relatively rated on a scale of 10 with respect to the benchmark pacer. The last three IPL performance and current International / Domestic form are considered for evaluation with more weightage being given to IPL.

Benchmark Pacer for IPL 2023: Jasprit Bumrah

Alright then, let’s look at the best pacers ranking and rating of each team for IPL 2023. 

Pacers Ranking and Rating for IPL 2023: 

#10: Lucknow Super Giants – 7.61

Three Solid Pacers for LSG: Mark Wood, Avesh Khan & Daniel Sams

Primary Backup Pacers for LSG: Mohsin Khan, Marcus Stoinis & Naveen Ul-Haq

Secondary Backup Pacers for LSG: Jaydev Unadkat, Kyle Mayers, Mayank Yadav, Yash Thakur & Yudhvir Charak

Lucknow Super Giants find themselves at the number 10 position with a rating of 7.61, and it’s no surprise anyway. Mark Wood, is their best pacer with a rating of 8.75. It could have been more, but Wood hasn’t played much of IPL, so loses points there. Except for Wood, the bowling isn’t so strong. Avesh Khan, Daniel Sams, and Mohsin Khan have a rating of 7.75, 7.25, and 7 respectively. Rest bowling is pretty inexperienced and filled with part-timers. 

#9: Chennai Super Kings – 8.08

Three Solid Pacers for CSK: Deepak Chahar, Ben Stokes & Dwaine Pretorius

Primary Backup Pacers for CSK: Kyle Jamieson & Mukesh Choudhary

Secondary Backup Pacers for CSK: Matheesha Pathirana, Shivam Dube, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Tushar Deshpande & Simarjeet Singh

The number 9 position may surprise you as we see Chennai Super Kings with a rating of 8.08 in the pacers category. CSK have plenty of options in the pace category, but unfortunately, there is no standout pacer. Deepak Chahar, who isn’t even in India’s T20I squad is CSK’s best pacer with a rating of 9. Rest CSK have Ben Stokes at 8.25, Dwaine Pretorius at 8, Kyle Jamieson at 7.25, and Mukesh Choudhary at 7.25. Rest the bowling is filled with youngsters and part-timers. 

#8: Rajasthan Royals – 8.09

Three Solid Pacers for RR: Trent Boult, Obed McCoy & Jason Holder

Primary Backup Pacers for RR: Navdeep Saini & Kuldeep Sen

Secondary Backup Pacers for RR: KM Asif & Kuldip Yadav

At number 8, we have Rajasthan Royals with a rating of 8.09 in the pacers category. RR could have been 5th had Prasidh Krishna not been ruled out. But without Prasidh, their rating goes down from 8.44 to 8.09. Overall, RR have solid four pacers in the form of Trent Boult, Obed McCoy, Jason Holder, and Navdeep Saini. These four have a rating of 9.5, 8.5, 8.25, and 7.75 respectively. Barring these four, RR can always fall back on Kuldeep Sen, KM Asif, and Kuldip Yadav.

#7: Sunrisers Hyderabad – 8.20

Three Solid Pacers for SRH: Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T, Natarajan & Umran Malik 

Primary Backup Pacers for SRH: Marco Jansen & Fazalhaq Farooqi 

Secondary Backup Pacers for SRH: Kartik Tyagi 

At number 7, we have Sunrisers Hyderabad with a rating of 8.20 in the pacers category. SRH have only 6 players with them; the least among of all the teams. Bhuvneshwar Kumar is SRH’s best pacer with a rating of 9. Following Bhuvi are T. Natarajan at 8.5, Umran Malik at 8, Marco Jansen at 7.75, Fazalhaq Farooqi at 7, and Kartik Tyagi at 6.75. 

#6: Gujarat Titans – 8.22

Three Solid Pacers for GT: Mohammed Shami, Alzarri Joseph & Hardik Pandya

Primary Backup Pacers for GT: Shivam Mavi, Joshua Little & Yash Dayal

Secondary Backup Pacers for GT: Odean Smith, Mohit Sharma, Darshan Nalkande, Pradeep Sangwan & Vijay Shankar

Number 6 sees Gujarat Titans with a rating of 8.22 in the pacers category. Gujarat Titans don’t have the most explosive pace bowling, but they have a few good pacers that can help signify their pace bowling. Mohammed Shami remains GT’s best pacer with a rating of 9.5. Following Shami is Alzarri Joseph at 8, Hardik Pandya at 7.75, Shivam Mavi at 7,75, Joshua Little at 7.5, and Yash Dayal at 6.75. 

#5: Delhi Capitals – 8.38

Three Solid Pacers for DC: Anrich Nortje, Mustafizur Rahman & Khaleel Ahmed

Primary Backup Pacers for DC: Lungi Ngidi, Chetan Sakariya & Ishant Sharma

Secondary Backup Pacers for DC: Mitchell Marsh, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Mukesh Kumar, Rovman Powell, Ripal Patel & Aman Khan

Delhi Capitals lead themselves to the number 5 position in the pacers category with a rating of 8.38. The overall rating for Delhi Capitals may be less, but they do have solid top 3 pacers in the form of Anrich Nortje, Mustafizur Rahman, and Khaleel Ahmed, who have a rating of 9.5, 8.5, and 8.25 respectively. Barring these three are Lungi Ngidi at 7.75, Chetan Sakariya at 7, and Ishan Sharma at 6.75. Rest Delhi Capitals have good backup pacer options like the likes of Mukesh Kumar, Mitchell Marsh, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, etc.

#4: Kolkata Knight Riders – 8.55

Three Solid Pacers for KKR: Andre Russell, Lockie Ferguson & Shardul Thakur

Primary Backup Pacers for KKR: Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav & David Wiese

Secondary Backup Pacers for KKR: Vaibhav Arora, Kulwant Khejroliya & Venkatesh Iyer

Number 4 sees Kolkata Knight Riders with a rating of 8.55 in the pacers category. Lockie Ferguson, Shardul Thakur, and Andre Russell remain KKR’s best pacers with a rating of 8.75 each. Although Russell may not be as competent as the other two, his death bowling is excellent, and he most often than not, takes wickets in bulk. Following these are good backup options in the form of Tim Southee at 8.5, Umesh Yadav at 7.5, and David Weise at 7.25.

#3: Mumbai Indians – 8.53

Three Solid Pacers for MI: Jasprit Bumrah, Jofra Archer & Jason Behrendorff 

Primary BackupPacers for MI: Cameron Green, Jhye Richardson & Duan Jansen

Secondary Backup Pacers for MI: Arjun Tendulkar, Mohd. Arshad Khan & Ramandeep Singh

Talking about the top 3 teams with the best pacers, we have Mumbai Indians at 3 with a rating of 8.53 in the pacers category. Jasprit Bumrah remains the benchmark pacer with a rating of 10. Jofra Archer will be finally pairing alongside Bumrah, and he has a rating of 9.25. However, apart from these two, MI does have good pacers, but all are devoid of IPL and International experience. MI have Jason Behrendorff at 7.5, Jhye Richardson at 7.5, and Cameron Green at 7.25. Rest MI have all young and inexperienced pacers to fall back to. 

#2: Punjab Kings – 8.69

Three Solid Pacers for PBKS: Kagiso Rabada, Arshdeep Singh & Sam Curran

Primary Backup Pacers for PBKS: Nathan Ellis, Rishi Dhawan & Raj Bawa

Secondary Backup Pacers for PBKS: Baltej Dhanda & Vidwath Kaverappa

At number 2, we have Punjab Kings, who have a rating of 8.69 in the pacers category. Punjab Kings does have a solid pace bowling line-up. Kagiso Rabada is the leader of the pace attack with a rating of 9.75; the third-best overall in IPL 2023. Following him are Sam Curran and Arshdeep Singh with a rating of 9.25 each. While the top 3 have a combined rating of 9.42, the backups are decent with Nathan Ellis at 7.25, Rishi Dhawan at 6.75, and Raj Bawa at 5.5. 

#1: Royal Challengers Bangalore – 8.88

Three Solid Pacers for RCB: Josh Hazlewood, Harshal Patel & Mohammed Siraj

Primary Backup Pacers for RCB:  David Willey, Reece Topley & Siddharth Kaul

Secondary Backup Pacers for RCB: Akash Deep, Avinash Singh, Rajan Kumar & Sonu Yadav

Undoubtedly the King of the pace attack, RCB bosts of the best pace bowling amount all 10 teams with a rating of 8.88. While RCB’s top 3 pacers are slightly below Punjab Kings, the presence of good backups makes their rating stronger.

Josh Hazlewood remains the best pacer for RCB with a rating of 9.75. He is followed by Mohammed Siraj and Harshal Patel with a rating of 9. The backup pacers are good too for RCB with David Willey at 8, Reece Topley at 8, and Siddharth Kaul at 6.5 

So. that’s about the pacers’ ranking and rating for IPL 2023. Jasprit Bumrah, Josh Hazlewood, and Kagiso Rabada form the top 3 pacers in IPL 2023. 

Thanks for reading! Looking at the ranking of each team, which team do you think has the best set of pacers in IPL 2023? Please email your thoughts to business@cricalytics.com

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