Published: Apr 11, 2022, 11:19 AM (IST)
Edited: Apr 11, 2022, 11:19 AM (IST)
IPL 2022, Weekly Wrap: The IPL 2022 saw some incredible sights in Week 2, but none more than 11 balls by three different bowlers. The first were the last two deliveries of the Gujarat Titans-Punjab Kings match, where Odean Smith of PBKS was blasted out of the ground, twice, by GT’s Rahul Tewatia with the latter needing 12 runs off two balls. The next three were sent down by Mustafizur Rahman of Delhi Capitals to Ajinkya Rahane of Kolkata Knight Riders. Rahane was given out caught behind off the pad from the first ball, then given LBW off the bat for the second, both sent up for DRS and reversed. The third delivery left a sharp spike on the ultra-edge, but no one said anything. I guess all were too confused with the first two to react to the third.
But the six balls that really turned everything were from the young, unassuming and deceptively fast Kuldeep Sen of Rajasthan Royals. His last over, with Lucknow Super Giants needing 15 runs off the last over of the week and Marcus Stoinis on strike, saw him restrict the Australian big-hitter to just 10 runs as RR went on to win and to the top of the table.
This victory meant that now there are five sides with six points apiece at the top of the IPL 2022 points tally. Gujarat Titans now have the distinction of being the only team with an all-win record so far. But this is just the second week, so things will change, for sure.
RR also have their hands now on the Orange and Purple Caps, with Jos Buttler and Yuzvendra Chahal, thanks to his four-wicket haul against LSG, on top of things.
Earlier in the day, Delhi Capitals clattered 215/5, the top score of IPL 2022 so far, with David Warner beginning to sharpen his weapons. Kuldeep Yadav, who is understood to have little love lost with former franchise Kolkata Knight Riders, then returned an unsmiling four-for as DC claimed two vital points.
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On the more sombre side, Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings, the most successful franchises on the IPL ever, are now the only two sides without a win in IPL 2022. The IPL 2022 points table has a very strange look to with CSK at 10th and MI just one slot above, with 0 on the points column for both.
Thrills and spills galore through the week. Tewatia snatched the limelight with his three-ball 13 not out, but others too were in for the party.
Dinesh Karthik once again reiterated his IPL credentials, with a 23-ball 44 not out that clawed Royal Challengers Bangalore past the winning post, with able assistance from Shahbaz Ahmed (45 off 26).
But the inning of the week, and could well possibly be of IPL 2022, came from the improbable bat of Pat Cummins as KKR’s Australian star blasted 56 not out off just 15 balls as he sent MI packing. Six sixes and four boundaries as Cummins first matched KL Rahul with the fastest IPL half-century, and took KKR to a win with four full overs to spare!
SunRisers Hyderabad are finally on the point table, and quite in par with the trends, they stopped an underwhelming CSK, with a big eight-wicket win.
As things begin to get narrower towards the top, with the number of games won or lost beginning to become progressively more critical, the predicaments of CSK and MI are something of a surprise, to say the least.
It would be safe to say that it is the bowling that has been the difference so far, for both sides, more so of MI. The Mumbai outfit has somehow contrived to reduce their bowling talent pools in both the pace and spin departments with the dropping of Trent Boult and Rahul Chahar from their line-up. The replacements have been mediocre Mumbai have tried Tymal Mills, Daniel Sams and also Jaydev Unadkat as the left-arm seamers, but none of them is Boult.
Jasprit Bumrah is finding it difficult to find good partners, and it shows.
Chahar was crucial for the spin department till last season and Murugan Ashwin, with all his guile and variety, still is not a perfect replacement.
In the batting, Rohit Sharma is not quite delivering, and once the top and middle-order struggles, as it did for MI through the week, it was always going to be difficult.
While it is easy to say that there is a long way to go in IPL 2022, the matches come thick and fast, and with two more sides in the fray, and doing quite well, MI and CSK really have to find a string of wins to get back anywhere near the top. Not out of the realms of possibility, but a tough going, without doubt.
(This article was first published on india.com)
