Record run rate, number of sixes, and totals
The Caribbean Premier League 2018, which was won by Trinbago Knight Riders, had the highest ever scoring rate in the tournament's history. The average run rate in this edition of the tournament was 8.53, which was about 0.4 runs higher than the previous best: 8.13 in 2016. The run rate in the last edition was 7.93 per over. However, the scoring rate at the start of the edition was 9.01 in the first 12 matches, before dropping off a bit.
The average runs per wicket for the season was 26.63, again the highest among all six editions.
The season had a record nine totals of 200 or more. The total number of such scores in the first five seasons were just six, with not more than two 200-plus totals in any season. There were three matches in excess of 400 runs this time, compared to just one such aggregate in the first five seasons. Six of the seven highest totals in CPL history have come in the 2018 edition.
There were a record 530 sixes hit in the season, which is 82 more than the previous highest in a season. The 2018 season is also the first when a boundary was hit within every six balls on an average.
Trinbago's third title, Guyana's fourth lost final
Trinbago Knight Riders won their second successive CPL title and their third in four seasons. While Trinbago are the most successful side in the tournament, Guyana Amazon Warriors have been runners-up four times in the six seasons. In the last four years, no team has won more T20 tiles than Trinbago and no team has lost more T20 finals than Guyana. Titans, of South Africa, have also won three titles in the last four years.
Bumper overs
The number of overs than yielded 30 or more runs in this edition of CPL were four. The highest was 32 runs, and there were three overs worth 30 runs. There were another five overs of 27 runs each. Comparing this to other T20 tournaments, there was no such over of 30+ in this year's Indian Premier League. In the first four seasons of CPL, there were only two overs of 30 or more runs.
Darren Bravo was the batsman who hit Kieron Pollard for those 32 runs in an over, which included five sixes. Pollard, while batting, hit 30 runs off Devenra Bishoo eight days later.
Munro's massive season
Colin Munro smashed 567 runs in CPL 2018, easily the most by a batsman in any edition of the CPL. Chadwick Walton's 458 in the 2017 season was the previous highest. Munro scored 109 runs more than that tally. He averaged 51.54, scoring at strike rate of 140.34, and hit six fifties in 13 innings. Munro has made 350-plus runs in each of the last three seasons of the CPL; no other batsman in the tournament has scored more runs than his 1315 runs in 37 innings in this period.
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Smart Stats champs
(Click here for more on Smart Stats, ESPNcricinfo's new set of metrics to make sense of numbers in T20 cricket)
Dwayne Bravo scored 209 runs but his Smart Runs* were 280.62, meaning he contributed 71.62 runs more taking into account the context under which he scored his runs. His Smart Runs contribution was the highest among all players.
The batsman with the highest Negative Smart Runs was, rather surprisingly, David Warner. He scored 220 but his Smart Runs were just 162.46, thus he effectively cost his side 57.53 runs. Hashim Amla, Andre Fletcher and Chris Gayle are the top four in this list along with Warner.
Bravo also had the best Smart Strike Rate among all batsmen who faced 100-plus deliveries: 252.81. Andre Russell had a Smart Strike Rate of 259.88 facing 83 deliveries.
Martin Guptill had the least Smart Runs (95.54) among all players who faced 100+ balls and Evin Lewis slotted in last in the Smart Batting Index (-12.29).
All stats for batsmen who faced 100+ balls
Bravo was one of the best batsmen according to ESPNcricinfo's Smart Stats but he was also one of the worst bowlers by the same metrics. His Smart Economy Rate was 11.77, which was the worst among all bowlers who bowled 100-plus deliveries. Imran Tahir had the best Smart Economy: 4.23. Tahir also saved the most runs for his side (80.56) while Rayad Emrit leaked most runs (55.24).
Nepal's Sandeep Lamichhane impressed with his ability to bowl dot balls in a row. He had the best Dot Ball Pressure Index among all bowlers to deliver 100-plus balls: 1.86.
All stats for bowlers who bowled 100+ deliveries