Weekly Review - Vivo Indian Premier League Twenty20 Cricket

Hi Everyone,

We witnessed some exciting matches, some of the hard hitting and awesome bowling during the last week of Vivo Indian Premier League Tewenty20.

This is what I wrote last week when the IPL had just begun.

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Now, each team has completed 3 matches and here I am with review of the matches completed so far.

1. Chennai Super Kings:

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Chennai Super Kings have started of well winning 2 of 3 matched completed so far and it's worthy to note that all the 3 matches were close encounters as for as CSK is concerned.

They won the first match because of the courtesy of Dwayne Bravo, who pulled of the match in CSK's favor with a 30 ball 68 when all the other CSK batsmen failed to make big contributions.

The second match against Kolkata Knight Riders at home was even more close finished one as KKR posted a mammoth total of 202 thanks to another West Indian giant Andre Russell scoring 88 of just 36 balls. The chase was always on for CSK with blistering opening partnership between Shane Watson and Ambati Rayudu with other contributions from Sam Billings and the finishing touch was provided by Dwayne Bravo and Sir Jadeja as they scored required 17 runs in 5 balls of the last over.

CSK's third match was against Punjab Kings XI as an away game for CSK and when everyone was thinking that match was almost over with required run rate shooting over 18 by seventeenth over, but Thalaiva MS Dhoni was still at the crease and almost pulled it from CSK by scoring a 44 ball 79, but in the final, CSK was just short of the target by 5 runs thanks to an inspiring final over by Mohit Sharma.

CSK right now is at third position in the points table. With Faf Du Plessis still nursing injury, Dhoni and the top order have to bear some additional responsibility, but with return of Faf, the CSK middle order should be even more stronger.

2. Delhi Daredevils:

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Delhi Daredevils started the tournament with a loss against the in form Kings XI Punjab and again in the second match against Rajasthan Royals which was a rain curtailed shortened match with DD failing to score 71 of 6 overs, but they look a much improved team with the inclusion of Jason Roy at the top in place of Colin Munro and coasted to victory in their third match against Mumbai Indians at Mumbai all because of the solid opening from Jason Roy (91 from 53 balls) and useful contributions from Rishabh Pant and others.

Right now, DD is at seventh position in points table and it may change with each match they complete as they look more solid after their third match and their bowlers needs to be more economical to give their batting unit fairly lesser targets.

As I write this, DD lost their fourth match against KKR rather disappointingly as they folded out for 129 in the chase of 201.

3. Kings XI Punjab

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Kings XI Punjab looks more formidable even-though they lost their second match to RCB, but they were able to withstand the onslaught from MS Dhoni in their recent match.

Overall Kings XI Punjab looks more balanced with the return of Universal Boss Chris Gayle at the top with KL Rahul continuing his good form in all the 3 matches he has played and other Indian players also making useful contributions with bat and bowl, though they have a concern with the form of Aron Finch who scored 2 golden ducks in the 2 matches he played so far.

Kings XI right now is sitting pretty with second position in the points table.

4. Kolkata Knight Riders

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Kolkata Knight Riders started the tournament on a winning note with their match against RCB, but had tough matches in the next 2 against CSK and Sunrisers Hyderabad.

They would have won the match against CSK with little more better bowling, but CSK was too good for them.

The match against Sunrisers Hyderabad was a utter failure for them as they folded for for a paltry score of 138 against the best bowling unit in IPL 2018 in Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Update: KKR won their fourth game against Delhi Daredevils rather convincingly after scoring 200 and their bowling unit was strong enough to bowl out DD for 129.

KKR is currently at fifth position in the points table thanks to those 2 losses against CSK and SRH, but expect them to be back to winning ways KKR moved to second position with that win against Delhi Daredevils.

5. Mumbai Indians:

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Mumbai Indians is by far the unluckiest side in the 3 matches they have played so far.

Their tournament opener match against CSK went till the last over and CSK finally winning due to the heroics of Dwayne Bravo.

They couldn't score big in the second match against the formidable bowing unit of SRH although they had the satisfaction of pulling the match till last ball and claiming 9 of SRH's batsmen in that effort.

Their third match against Delhi Daredevils was a good one as they score 190+ batting first, but couldn't defend the score as DD won the match with Jason Roy's strong debut to DD.

MI will be up against the misfiring unit of RCB in their next match in their home ground and are expected to be back to winning ways and Mumbai Indians as the history says are the slow starters and wins back to back matches when needed in later stages of the tournament.

Needless to say, right now, Mumbai Indians are at the bottom of the points table

6. Rajasthan Royals:

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Rajasthan Royals although started on a loosing side in their opening match against SRH, but have won back to back matches in the next 2 against Delhi Daredevils(defended a D/L score of 71 from 6 overs) and Royal Challengers Bangalore, which was a strong win for them considering the batting heavy unit of RCB.

RR will be happy with the form of Sanju Samson and their bowling unit although a better show is expected from their captain Ajinkya Rahane and others like Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Rahul Tripathi if they have to be a threat to other strong units in the tournament.

Rajasthan Royals is currently at the middle of the points table at fourth position.

7. Royal Challengers Bangalore:

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Royal Challengers Bangalore have gone through ups and downs in the 3 matches they have played so far with winning against strong team of Kings XI Punjab in one of the 2 home games and loosing against KKR and RR.

They are heavily dependent on their top 4 batsmen and their middle order is more vulnerable barring the sparks shown by Mandeep Singh. Their bowling unit is also leaking runs and it's partly understandable that their home ground in Bangalore is more batsmen friendly.

They need to sort out the opening position of Brendon McCullum who failed to make useful contributions in the 3 matches so far and also improve their bowling unit.

RCB right now is at sixth position in points table and needs inspiring wins to move up the ladder.

Sunrisers Hyderabad:

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Sunrisers Hyderabad is living up to their expectation as a strong bowling unit as their bowlers restricted the opposite team for less than 150 scores in all 3 matches they played so far although the second match against Mumbai Indians was a close affair with SRH winning on last ball of the innings with just one wicket left!!

Having said that, their batting unit is a formidable one like their bowling with the likes of Shikhar Dhawan, Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey, Shakib Al Hassan, Deepak Hooda and Yusuf Pathan.

No prize for guessing the position of SRH in points table, as they are number 1 in the table with their impressive wins.

Although the teams have played 3 or 4 matches only, by this time each of the 8 teams will have some understanding about the performance of their team and also about the opposition teams they will be playing against and that should improve the performance of each team and should provide more entertainment to the crowd.

Looking forward to hear your voice on this and a good week ahead to all.

Thanks for reading :)