IPL 2025: The Second-Highest-Scoring Season Confirms a New Baseline
July 21, 2026 · CricketStudio · How to cite
1The Finding
IPL 2025 averaged 171.0 runs per innings — the second-highest season in the 18-year corpus, just 2.6 below 2024's record 173.6, making high scoring a new baseline.
2What the Numbers Show
| Metric | Value | Sample / Context |
|---|---|---|
| IPL 2025 avg | 171.0 runs/innings | 74 matches |
| 2024 (highest) | 173.6 | Gap to 2025: 2.6 runs |
| 2023 (3rd highest) | 165.1 | Gap to 2025: 5.9 runs |
| 2022 (4th) | 155.8 | |
| Era 3 avg (2019–2025) | 161.0 | 2025 is 10 above era mean |
| 2009 (lowest in corpus) | 134.9 | Gap to 2025: 36.1 runs |
3Why It's Surprising
A single extreme season (2024: 173.6) could be dismissed as an outlier. 2025 at 171.0 makes that dismissal impossible — the two highest-scoring seasons in IPL history are back-to-back. The Era 3 average (161.0) already sat 19.4 runs above Era 1 (141.6). Now 2024–25 are 10–12 runs above even that elevated era mean. The bottom of the scoring range has lifted: the IPL's worst team on a bad night in 2024–25 likely scores more than the 2009 season average.
4Scope and Limits
- Covers Cricsheet IPL corpus 2008–2025. IPL 2026 (RCB champions) is a separate dataset.
- Season averages per batting innings. League stage and playoffs included.
- 2009 comparison understates the venue effect (South Africa vs Indian subcontinent).
5Provenance
CricketStudio aggregation of Cricsheet IPL corpus (CC BY 3.0). data/_ipl-historical-trend-data.json. Computed 2026-07-21. Script: scripts/build-ipl-historical-trend-data.mjs.