Smart Stats - Deepti Sharma bags impact honours in WPL 2024

Royal Challengers Bangalore swept most of the honours in WPL 2024 - apart from the trophy, they also took the Orange and Purple Cap awards - but the prize for Most Valuable Player (MVP) went to UP Warriorz' Deepti Sharma. According to ESPNcricinfo's Smart Stats, which gives a rating value to every batting and bowling performance based on match context, Deepti got a rating of 82.85 impact points (on a per-match basis), with Marizanne Kapp and Ellyse Perry taking the next two spots.

Though Warriorz didn't even make the playoffs, Sharma had an outstanding tournament with both bat and ball. She was the leading run-scorer for her team, and the fifth-highest among all batters in the tournament, despite batting only twice in the top four. (She scored 147 runs in those two innings.) Her 295 runs came at an average of 98.33 - she was dismissed only three times in eight innings - and a strike rate of 136.57. With ball, she was the second-highest wicket-taker for Warriorz with 10, at an economy rate of 7.23.

Apart from the sheer number of runs and wickets, what earned her more impact points was the match context and pressure under which she performed. Despite batting in the middle or lower-middle order, she scored 107 more runs than the next-highest run-getter for Warriorz. A good example of her lone-ranger act was in Warriorz' last game of the tournament, against Gujarat Giants: requiring 153 to win, Warriorz fell eight short, but Deepti scored an unbeaten 88 out of the team total of 144; the others in the top six made a combined contribution of 13 runs.

Overall, she scored 27.1% of Warriorz' total bat runs in the tournament, which is only marginally lower than Perry's 27.3% of RCB's bat runs in the nine games she played. However, Deepti's strike rate of 136.57 was much higher than the team's overall strike rate of 118.4; in Perry's case, her strike rate of 125.72 was as much as the team's strike rate of 126.52. These factors meant that Deepti's overall batting rating of 43.32 - third among all batters with a five-match cut-off - was marginally higher than Perry's 41.11.

With ball too, she had an outstanding tournament, which is reflected in her bowling rating of 39.53, the fourth-best among those who played at least five matches. Deepti's economy rate of 6.30 in the middle overs was the best among the 17 bowlers who bowled at least 10 overs during this phase in the tournament, while in the death overs she took six wickets from just eight overs.

She also dominates the list for most impactful performances in a match. Her 2 for 22 and unbeaten 88 against Giants fetched her 199 points, while her other big all-round performance - 59 and 4 for 19 against Delhi Capitals fetched 197.5 points. Those are the two leading performances in a match, and is followed closely by Perry's stunning 6 for 15 against Mumbai Indians.