This season of the IPL marches merrily along in the middle of a deadly second wave of the pandemic and we would be forgiven for thinking that all is well and normal. Only the absence of physical spectators points to anything untoward. That and the fact that Royal Challengers Bangalore are still at the top of the points table – undefeated in their four matches so far. Here’s what went on in the IPL matches this week:
Rajasthan Royals won the toss and decided to bowl, as usual. Chennai Super Kings made 188 for 9, with Faf du Plessis making 33 off 17, Ambati Rayudu making 27 off 17 and Moeen Ali making 26 off 20.
He took two valuable wickets including that of opener and highest scorer Jos Buttler. He also took four catches.
RR could only manage 143 for 9. The second highest scorer for the team was bowler Jaydev Unadkat with 24 off 17
Though M S Dhoni himself made just 18 off 17, his fans were delighted. Player of the match was Moeen Ali for his all-round score (he also took three wickets conceding just 7 runs).
Mumbai Indians won the toss and decided to bat. Their confidence seemed to be misplaced, however, when the batsmen could only make 137 for 9.
Delhi Capitals bowlers were in fine form, with only Rohit Sharma being allowed to make decent runs (44 off 30). Amit Mishra took Sharma’s and three other vital wickets.
After losing open Prithvi Shaw cheaply, Shikhar Dhawan (45 off 42) and Steve Smith (33 off 29) steadied the innings for DC.
Amit Mishra was man of the match. MI’s much vaunted bowling attack didn’t amount to much on the day; managing to get just 4 DC wickets, also probably because they were defending a modest total.
Punjab Kings decided to bat after winning the toss. Nicholas Pooran got his third duck in the tournament and a lot of social media trolling as well.
The Sun Riser Hyderabad bowlers restricted PBSK to just 120 (all out), the highest run scorers being Mayank Agarwal and Shahrukh Khan with 22 each.
SRH won quite easily in the end, by 9 wickets with 8 balls left. Jonny Bairstow was player of the match for his 63 off 56. The team finally got its first two points from four matches.
Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and put CSK in to bat. Faf du Plessis made 95 off 60 to help his team get to 220 for just 3 wickets.
A valiant 54 run innings from Andre Russell came to an end after Sam Curran got him out.
In spite of Russell’s pyrotechnics and 66 off 34 from Pat Cummins, KKR lost; Deepak Chahar picking up 4 wickets.
After losing the toss and batting first, RR made 177 for 9. RCB won easily without losing a wicket and with 21 balls to spare.
He was the player of the match for his 101 not out off just 52 balls. Skipper Virat Kohli played an almost secondary role with his 72 off 47.
All teams have played 4 matches each and RCB is still the only unbeaten team in the tournament, leading with 8 points. CSK and DC have 6 points each while MI has 4. KKR, PBSK and RR have two points each right now. PBSK takes on MI today.
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