New Delhi, May 30 -- The 2025 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has been anything but typical-how could it be, with the armed conflict between India and Pakistan forcing a week-long hiatus in May. Yet, the tournament remains a barometer for cricket's overarching trends. Even a casual glance at an IPL broadcast tells us the direction in which the game is heading-scientific, data-backed and underpinned by professional analytics.

The pre-match show is punctuated by bursts of data specific to the venue-average scores, average degree of spin/seam movement, the average and economy rates for every single style of bowling. Two opposing players are pitted against one another in "matchups", and we have ball-by-ball data about which batter...