IPL 2025 Mid-Season Review: Batters Continue To Dominate, Rise Of The Underachievers And No Home Advantage

It is deja vu. The carnage has continued. The mayhem in the powerplay hasn't stopped. It is raining fours and sixes. Yes, IPL 2025 has mirrored the previous edition and batters have only taken their domination to a level higher this season. It is the same annihilation - only the annihilators have somewhat changed! While Sunrisers Hyderabad, Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals led the mini-revolution last year, this time around the assault has been led by Punjab Kings. 

The other big talking point of the 18th edition of the IPL has been the spectacular failure of the BIG 3 - Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders - have struggled to keep pace in the competition and it is the perennial underachievers - Punjab Kings, Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bengaluru - who have made the initial waves this season. Chasing continues to be an advantage but playing at home is not - that is another trend from the season. 

We look at the trends, patterns and other talking points mid-season from IPL 2025. 

Run-rate continues to soar 

Most fans and pundits classified 2024 as an aberration in the 17-year history of the IPL! The batters plundered runs and how, there was mayhem in the powerplay, it was flooding fours and sixes, record totals were set and broken and run-rates soared to an all-time high. Well, unfortunately for the bowlers, the experts got their forecast wrong. 2024 was not an exception. It was indeed a revolutionary year in the IPL which set the benchmark for the seasons to come. 

The average run-rate after the first 35 matches last season was 9.49. Interestingly, the average run-rate mid-season in 2025 is also 9.49, just decimal points lower than last season! This suggests