The IPL 2023 is in the last week of league play, and almost all the teams are fighting to get into the playoffs. The only teams that are definitely out of the playoff race are the Delhi Capitals (DC) and the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH).
The Gujarat Titans (GT) are currently on top of the points table and have one foot in the playoffs. Then followed by Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Mumbai Indians (MI), and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG).
Even though the action between bat and ball has been exciting, with many young players making a name for themselves and the more experienced players leading the way, the dew factor has been a constant theme that has changed the balance and decided the result of some of the night games.
After losing games, many players have said what they think about how dew affects the result of the game. This makes the toss a very important factor.
Since the dew factor is always talked about during and before IPL matches, let’s look at three other times in IPL 2023 when the dew factor was very important.
1) Gujarat Titans vs Chennai Super Kings, Ahmedabad
On March 31, 2023, in Ahmedabad, the reigning winners, the Gujarat Titans, played the four-time champions, the Chennai Super Kings. GT won the coin toss and chose to play first on a good pitch for hitting.
With opener Ruturaj Gaikward at the helm, CSK scored a strong 178-7 in 20 overs. In response, CSK’s spinners were mostly useless as the dew started to fall during GT’s innings. This made it easy for GT to get most of the runs they needed.
Ravindra Jadeja and Mitchell Santner only took one wicket between them, which made CSK captain MS Dhoni think that the bats should have put up more runs to give the bowlers more room to work with. He said:
“We all knew there will be dew. We could have done a bit more with the batsman ship. Ruturaj (Gaikwad) was brilliant, he times the ball well and he’s a pleasure to watch.”
GT’s title defence got off to a good start with the win, and the team hasn’t looked back since. So far this season, they’ve won nine of their 13 games.
2) Mumbai Indians vs Rajasthan Royals, Mumbai
At the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on April 30, the 42nd match was a high-scoring battle between the five-time IPL champion Mumbai Indians and the inaugural IPL champion Rajasthan Royals. At the toss, RR made an unusual choice and chose to bat first on the ground in Mumbai where teams usually chase.
The plan seemed to work when they scored 212-7 in 20 overs, which was a huge number. Yashasvi Jaiswal’s brilliant century was a big part of this.
In response, most of MI’s players made important contributions, and they shocked the Royals by reaching an impossible goal with six wickets and three balls to spare.
Samson liked what the MI players did, but he thought the wet ball made it hard for the bowlers to do what they had planned.
“It was kind of getting wet. It was not too wet and we were taking our time to wipe the ball. We had the experience of bowling in these conditions. Results do come here and there. We will keep focusing on the process. We will keep focus on the controllables,” stated Samson.
This win was very important for MI because they had only won three games and lost four. Since then, they have won three of their last four games.
3) Delhi Capitals vs Royal Challengers Bangalore, Delhi
The Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) played the Delhi Capitals (DC) in the 50th match of the IPL 2023 on May 6 in Delhi. On a dry, two-paced track, RCB won the toss and chose to bat first. In 20 overs, they scored 181-4, which seemed to be above average.
Virat Kohli hit the most runs for RCB with 55 off of 46 balls. He thought the team had done 20–25 runs better than average. But, to the disappointment of RCB and its fans, DC knocked down the target with seven wickets left over in only 17 overs.
After the game, RCB captain Faf du Plessis thought that the dew was a big reason why the spinners didn’t do well.
“I thought 185 was a pretty good score. The dew took the spinners out of the game, but credit to them (DC batters) as well. You like your spinners in the game, but you need to bowl in the right areas despite of the dew.”
The result was RCB’s fifth of the season, leaving them in a precarious position on the points table.
