IPL WEEK THREE: Delhi Capitals Storm to the top

Delhi Capitals stormed to the top of the log with a third straight win to begin their campaign and consign the hapless Chennai Super Kings to a third consecutive defeat and a record to match the equally struggling Mumbai Indians with just one victory from their four matches so far.

A week of heavily one-sided matches may not please the marketers of the greatest sports show on earth but the winning teams are no less happy with their two points. A lot has to do with the ‘Impact Player’ which profoundly changes the dynamics of an intrinsically XI-per-side game.

Neil Manthorp looks back at Week 3 of the IPL:

Match of the Week: If it was a close game you were after it was a disappointing week. Three consecutive eight-wicket wins followed by 80-runs, 25-runs and 50-runs. The smallest margin was Lucknow Super Giants 12-run victory against Mumbai Indians and even that wasn’t as close as the scoreline suggests. So, we’ll go with the opposite – Kolkata Knight Riders’ 80-run demolition of Sunrisers in which they scored 200-6 and bowled the opposition out for 120. As close to perfect as any team dare hope for.

Best Batter:  Prabhsimran Singh 69 from 34 balls led Punjab Kings an emphatic 8-wicket win against LSG making light work of a 171-7 target to win with 22 balls to spare. Net run-rate plays a part in deciding play-off places every year. Look after it whenever you get the chance, you never know. Venkatesh Iyer appears here and in ‘Clanger’ proving how quickly things change. 60 off 29 balls (7x4, 3x6) for KKR against Sunrisers Hyderabad was more like it.

Best Bowler:  Mohammad Siraj was bleak about RCB not retaining his services before the mega-Auction so when he returned to the Chinnaswamy Stadium in the colours of the Gujarat Titans he had a point to prove – and 4-0-19-3 did just that with the home side restricted to a modest 169-8. Jos Buttler’s 73* from 39 balls wrapped up an eight-wicket victory. Good legspinners seem more valuable than ever – KKR’s Varun Chakravarthy (3-22) dismantled big-hitting but stuttering Sunrisers for 120 to help earn a monster 80-run win. Hardik Pandya’s slower-ball-bouncer-laden, career-best 5-36 for MI against LSG was in vain as they went down by 12-runs.

Peak Performance:  Shubman Gill. Superb captaincy masterminding the Gujarat Titans bowlers in restricting the floundering Sunrisers Hyderabad to just 152-8 in the final match of the week before measuring the run-chase with the precision of a scientist scoring 61* from 43 balls and allowing Washinton Sundar (49 off 29) and Sherfane Rutherford (35 off 16) to do the heavy-lifting in a seven-wicket hiding.

Clanger: MS Dhoni’s 30* from 26 balls… Venkatesh Iyer’s three off nine balls in KKR’s 116 all out against Mumbai Indians. But there’s only one option. Tilak Varma being ‘retired out’ by the Mumbai Indians after limping to 25 off 23 balls in a match-losing innings against Lucknow Super Giants. There’s no humiliation to compare with that.

Best Overseas Player:  Jos Buttler’s match-winning 73* was probably no more than ‘business as usual’ for England’s recently resigned white-ball skipper so the outstanding performance was Jofra Archer’s brilliant 3-25 to set the Rajasthan Royals up for whopping 50-run win against the Punjab Kings. Having started the tournament with the most expensive analysis in IPL history (0-76) Archer has been instrumental in the Royals last two wins with 3-1-13-1 against CSK.

Best Indian Player:  Reading a pitch and assessing a ‘par’ score when batting first is one of the lesser talked about skills in T20 cricket. To the untrained eye KL Rahul’s 77 from 51 balls might looked a bit of a ‘plod’ for Delhi against CSK. But he knew 170 would be an excellent score. Tristan Stubbs belted 24* from 12 balls to push the score up to 183-6 and they won by 25-runs, largely because of Rahul’s ‘reading’.

Best South African Player:  Ryan Rickelton began the week with an unbeaten 62 from 41 balls to help MI beat KKR by eight-wickets but they did only need 117. Heinrich Klaasen (33 from 21 balls) is battling to keep bottom placed SRH afloat but the best player this week was Aiden Markram for his 53 from 38 balls for LSG against MI. Struggling at a run-a-ball for the first 25 he accelerated astutely and reached a much needed half century.

Talking Point: What is MS Dhoni…doing? Yes, it was last week’s talking point, too, but the conversation is becoming more animated with former Australian and CSK opener, Matthew Hayden, saying on commentary: “Dhoni should join us in our commentary box after this game. He has lost the cricket. It's over for him. He should accept the fact before it's too late for CSK…”

Look out for: Struggling Mumbai Indians, with just one win from four matches, face Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Wankhede Stadium on Monday. Star paceman, Jasprit Bumrah, has finally joined the squad after recovering from injury. The five-time champions desperately need him at his best to trigger a change in form and fortunes.