Overseas hitters dominate IPL-V

New Delhi, April 23 (IANS) Six in the top 10 big hitters in the currrent season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) are from overseas. Eight of them have a 150 plus strike rate, though only West Indian Chris Gayle (19), South African Francois du Plessis (14) and Englishman Owais Shah (14) have hit sixes in double digits.

Ironically, turbanator Harbhajan Singh, captian of Mumbai Indians, leads the pack of four Indians. He may have averaged only 23, but his strike rate is 154, equalling IPL-V highest auctioned player Ravindra Jadeja's batting average of 23.00.

Jadeja, with 146.00, ranks at number nine just above Rajasthan Royals orange cap holder for highest aggregate Ajinkya Rahane. Rahane with 146.00 is two places below Delhi Daredevils all-rounder Irfan Pathan with 150.00.

Chennai Super Kings' Albie Morkel has the highest strike rate of 158.00 and he leaves behind the explosive hitter from Royal Challengers Bangalore Chris Gayle who has blasted the opposition by scoring at 157.00.

Out of the pack, Rahane and Shah both belonging to the Royals who have scored more than 250 runs each have an healthy batting average of 53.00 apiece.

Gayle who has sent the ball 19 times over the ropes in just five games, is clearly fast ahead in hitting sixes. Du Plessis of Chennai Super Kings, with 138 runs scored per 100 balls, and Shah of Rajasthan Royals (154 strike rate) are ranked second in most number of sixes, with 14 each.

As for fours, Rahane has cut, pulled, flicked and drove to the boundary 43 times, leaving Kolkata's captian Gautam Gambhir a distant second with 28 fours.

Purple cap holder for most wickets, Morne Morkel of Delhi Daredevils, heads the list with 15 and has the best strike rate with a wicket after every 9.2 balls.

Munaf Patel, with 10 wickets from five matches, is one of the three Indians in the top 10 wicket-takers this season. He is at number four, the other two are Piyush Chawla of Punjab Kings XI at eight and Ashok Dinda of Pune Warriors at nine with eight wickets each.

Sri Lankan quick Lasith Malinga, who returned home with back problems, has the lowest economy rate of 4.54 and a bowling average of 8.00 after four matches.

Pos Player Mat NO Runs HS Ave BF SR 100 50 4s 6s

1. Albie Morkel 5 3 38 28 19.00 24 158.00 0 0 2 3

2. Chris Gayle 5 0 246 87 49.00 156 157.00 0 3 14 19

3. Brad Hodge 6 4 129 48* 64.00 82 157.00 0 0 10 6

4. Kevin Pietersen 4 2 187 103* 93.00 121 154.00 1 0 11 14

5. Harbhajan Singh 4 1 71 33 23.00 46 154.00 0 0 9 3

6. Owais Shah 7 2 268 76 53.00 174 154.00 0 3 22 14

7. Steve Smith 7 2 194 44* 38.00 127 152.00 0 0 13 9

8. Irfan Pathan 4 0 86 42 21.00 57 150.00 0 0 4 5

9. Ravindra Jadeja 6 1 119 48 23.00 81 146.00 0 0 9 6

10. Ajinkya Rahane 7 1 319 103* 53.00 218 146.00 1 1 43 9The top six six hitters:

1 Chris Gayle 5 0 246 87 49.00 156 157.00 0 3 14 19

2 Francois du 7 0 302 73 43.00 218 138.00 0 3 24 14

Plessis

3 Owais Shah 7 2 268 76 53.00 174 154.00 0 3 22 14

4 Kevin Pietersen 4 2 187 103* 93.00 121 154.00 1 0 11 14

5 Ajinkya Rahane 7 1 319 103* 53.00 218 146.00 1 1 43 9

6 Steve Smith 7 2 194 44* 38.00 127 152.00 0 0 13 9

Best bowlers:

Pos Player Mat Inns Overs Runs Wkts BBI Ave Econ SR 4 5

1 Morne Morkel 6 6 23.0 162 15 3/18 10.80 7.04 9.20 0 0

2 Kieron Pollard 6 6 20.5 143 11 4/44 13.00 6.86 11.36 1 0

3 Sunil Narine 5 5 20.0 120 10 5/19 12.00 6.00 12.00 0 1

4 Munaf Patel 5 5 18.4 130 10 4/20 13.00 6.96 11.20 2 0

5 Kevon Cooper 4 4 16.0 120 10 4/26 12.00 7.50 9.60 1 0

6 Lasith Malinga 4 4 15.5 72 9 3/27 8.00 4.54 10.55 0 0

7 Dale Steyn 5 5 19.4 124 9 3/12 13.77 6.30 13.11 0 0

8 Piyush Chawla 7 7 26.0 147 8 3/18 18.37 5.65 19.50 0 0

9 Ashok Dinda 5 5 18.0 107 8 4/18 13.37 5.94 13.50 1 0

10 Muttiah 4 4 16.0 112 8 3/21 14.00 7.00 12.00 0 0

Muralitharan