da dobrowin： The answer is a resounding yes, if you analyse what sides look to do and the advantage they gain after winning the toss
da wazamba： Sidharth Monga01-May-2019In the last week of March this year, Chennai Super Kings lost the toss in two successive matches, bringing a brief break to an incredible run of luck. Either side of those two lost tosses, spanning IPL seasons, are winning streaks of eight and nine with the coin.** They have lost just six of this run of 19 matches overall. At the bottom of the IPL 2019 points table, Royal Challengers Bangalore have won just three of their 13 tosses this season.Super Kings have won 10 tosses this season; they have three to five matches remaining, which means they have a good shot at going past the record for one season: 12.You can’t take credit away from Super Kings for knowing what to do after winning those tosses and doing it well, but you also know the toss is more important here than in ODIs from the clear formula developing: chase, rare circumstances aside – which is the exact opposite of Tests. Champions in eight of the 11 previous editions of the IPL have also been sides that had won the most tosses in that season.Super Kings have played those 19 matches mentioned earlier over eight venues, but on the 17 occasions that they have had the right to choose what they want to do first, they have batted only on three occasions. Yet, when the IPL started, it followed the traditional wisdom of cricket: runs on board, scoreboard pressure when chasing etc. It was only 2014 onwards that sides began to prefer chasing consistently.ESPNcricinfo LtdAs you would expect, teams were wary of dew at the start of IPL, which explains a higher preference for chasing in 8pm games in the early years. Yet there was this year – 2013 – when they chased only in 39% of the night games. Then in 2014 the penny dropped.ESPNcricinfo LtdIt was still felt that 4pm games gave you more incentive batting first.ESPNcricinfo LtdThere is no particular event that marks a turning point in the attitude of the sides. It was more a gradual realisation that 40 overs is too short a time for the conditions to bring their whole gamut into play. Teams began to understand that the availability of disproportionate wicket resources over 20 overs meant you never knew what the chasing side could do with its resources. Often teams batting first lost only two or three wickets in their innings, but that target would be chased down. They just didn’t know how hard to go when batting first, so they began to chase.There was a theory that sides preferred to begin batting first as the season wore on and pitches grew tired, and that was the only consideration holding chase numbers back in the earlier years. However, that deviation is not big, especially in recent seasons. In 2014, you will see sides chased more as the season went on, but that is because it began in the UAE before coming to chase-friendly Indian conditions.