IPL MATCH INTELLIGENCE

IPL analysts and fans assume the toss gives a competitive edge — but no one had quantified it across 5 seasons of ball-by-ball data to see if it actually holds up. Process Pulled 300 matches and 72,000 deliveries from Cricsheet, cleaned and structured the data in Python, segmented every delivery into powerplay / middle / death phases, then compared run rates and win rates across all groups. Results Toss advantage = exactly 0% across 300 matches. Middle overs (7–15) showed a +4.8 run gap between winners and losers — nearly 2× the powerplay gap of +2.5. KL Rahul led all batters with 11,753 runs; Mohammed Shami led bowlers with 511 wickets. Reflection I'd include partnership data alongside individual scores to better capture how middle-over batting pairs — not just solo performers — drive winning innings.