There were many memorable performances in the league stages.
Jos Buttler starred for the Rajasthan Royals with four centuries while K L Rahul led from the front for LSG with two hundreds. Rahul's opening partner Quinton de Kock smashed his way to a season best 140 from 70 balls as all the three openers tallied with 500-plus runs in the first 14 games.
Liam Livingstone justified his price tag with explosive batting for the Punjab Kings while Hardik Pandya showed his pedigree as captain as he led Gujarat Titans to the IPL 2022 final. Dinesh Karthik's superb performances as the finisher for RCB earned him a recall to the Indian team.
With the ball, Yuzvendra Chahal was the top wicket-taker in the group stages with 26 wickets, with RCB's Wanindu Hasaranga a close second on 25.
Kagiso Rabada was tops among the fast bowlers with 23 wickets while Sunrisers Hyderabad pace sensation Umran Malik stole the show with 22 wickets.
Harish Kotian selects his IPL 2022 Dream Team:
Jos Buttler, Rajasthan Royals
Buttler smashed three centuries and two fifties in his first seven games.
On Tuesday, May 24, 2022, he hit 89 in Royal's losing cause in Qualifier 1.
On Friday, May 27, 2022, he scored an incredible 106 off 60 balls to take the Royals to the final.
Buttler leads the run-scoring charts with 824 runs in 16 games and also leads the charts for the most sixes and fours in IPL 2022, hitting 45 sixes and 78 fours.
K L Rahul, Lucknow Super Giants
Change of teams seems have to worked wonders for Rahul.
Not only did he score runs in plenty, his astute captaincy paved the way for the Lucknow Super Giants making it to the play-offs in their debut season though they lost the Eliminator game to Royal Challengers Bangalore on Wednesday, May 25, 2022.
He reserved his best for the Mumbai Indians, hitting two consecutive centuries in the space of eight days with identical scores of 103 not out in both games.
Rahul finished IPL 2022 , with 616 runs.
Quinton de Kock, Lucknow Super Giants
Quinny smashed his way to a sensational 140 not out from 70 balls against the Kolkata Knight Riders in LSG's final league match and finished the season with 508 runs from 15 games.
De Kock also contributed with the gloves, taking 12 catches and one stumping.
Hardik Pandya, Gujarat Titans. Captain
The Gujarat Titans captain answered all his critics in style, leading the debutants from the front.
Batting at the crucial No 4 position, Hardik delivered the goods for Gujarat with 471 runs in 14 matches, including four half-centuries.
The most encouraging news for Indian cricket was Hardik bowling important overs in a few games, picking up five wickets.
Gujarat's players seem to relish playing under Hardik's captaincy who has brought a fresh approach to the leadership role with his calm attitude on the field.
Liam Livingstone, Punjab Kings
Livingstone has been one of the most impactful players in IPL 2022.
Unfortunately, he didn't enjoy much support from his team-mates, else Punjab Kings would have made it to the play-offs.
With the bat, Livingstone took apart every bowling attack he has come up against. The England all-rounder blasted his way to 437 runs from 14 games at an incredible strike rate of 182 with four fifties.
Apart from one innings when he scored 19 from 16 balls at a strike rate of 146, in 13 other innings, Livingstone hammered runs at a strike rate of 168 or more.
Livingstone's six-hitting ability was unmatched with 34 sixes and 29 fours in 240 balls faced in the group stages.
His part-time spin also played a part, with six wickets in 23 overs bowled.
Dinesh Karthik, Royal Challengers Bangalore. Wicket-Keeper
With Virat Kohli struggling for runs, Karthik played some crucial knocks in the lower order to save his team from impossible situations
Karthik's most important knock came in a must-win game against the Sunrisers Hyderabad, when he blasted his way to 30 from 8 balls.
He has one of the highest strike rates in the group stages -- 191.33, scoring 287 runs at an average of 57.
With the gloves, Karthik has been quite dependable with 10 catches and two stumping in 16 games.
Yuzvendra Chahal, Rajasthan Royals
The leg-spinner was a standout performer for the Rajasthan Royals in the group stages. Not only did he keep things tight, he also picked wickets in plenty.
In the group stages, Chahal took 26 wickets in 14 games at an economy rate of 7.67.
He is also the only bowler to take a hat-trick in IPL 2022 so far, during his match-winning 5/40 against the Kolkata Knight Riders.
Wanindu Hasaranga, Royal Challengers Bangalore
If any bowler has come close to match Chahal, it has been the Sri Lankan spin ace. Hasaranga, who became the most expensive Sri Lankan player in IPL history when he was signed up by RCB for Rs 10.75 crore, registered his maiden five-wicket haul -- 5/18 against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
He took 24 wickets in 14 games in the league stages at an economy rate of 7.38.
Umran Malik, Sunrisers Hyderabad
Malik's express pace took IPL 2022 by storm. His deadly yorkers sending the stumps cartwheeling became a common sight as he played a big role in reviving Sunrisers's fortunes after a slow start when SRH won five games in a row.
Some of the best batters in the IPL struggled to cope against Umran who bowled consistently at 150kph or more.
In his first full season, Umran stormed his way to 22 wickets in 14 games at a strike rate of 13, and was promptly drafted into the Indian team for the T20I series against South Africa next month.
Mohammed Shami, Gujarat Titans
Shami has been a revelation with the ball for the Gujarat Titans. The pacer has made the new ball count resulting in 11 wickets out of his 18 wickets in the group stages coming in the Powerplay.
Shami has also been effective in the death overs, bowling a tight line and length and has very rarely gone for runs in the league games.
Kagiso Rabada, Punjab Kings
Rabada has been an important addition to the Punjab Kings line-up, and has been a handful whether bowling with the new ball or the old ball.
The South African speedster finished as the most successful fast bowler in the group stages with 23 wickets in 13 games with two four-wicket hauls.
Photographs: BCCI
