The Indian Premier League (IPL) has reached its halfway stage with Faf du Plessis firing on all cylinders, Rinku Singh reaching a miracle and MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings prime of the desk.
AFP Sport pinpoints 5 highlights to this point of the present version of the profitable Twenty20 match, which reaches its climax on May 28.
Faf thwacks it
Six-machine Faf du Plessis has lit up the competitors for Royal Challengers Bangalore with a barrage of boundaries together with one 115-metre (380-foot) missile into the stands.
The South African veteran tops the batting chart with 405 runs in seven matches, together with 5 half-centuries, and has gelled with fellow opener Virat Kohli with two century stands.
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Australia’s Glenn Maxwell, additionally at Bangalore, has equally been no slouch in the powerhitting stakes with 23 sixes behind Du Plessis’ 25 — the solely two to go above 20.
For Chennai, India’s usually extra sedate Ajinkya Rahane has been a revelation with a strike price of over 199 in 5 matches, together with an atomic 71 not out off simply 29 balls.
The top-order batsman has earned a recall to India’s Test squad.
Rinku phenomenon
Batsman Rinku Singh grew to become an in a single day sensation with an unbelievable 5 sixes in the final 5 balls of Kolkata Knight Riders’ against-the-odds chase in opposition to a surprised Gujarat Titans.
The never-seen-before blitz, which conjured reminiscences of the 4 sixes by West Indies batsman Carlos Brathwaite in the 2016 T20 World Cup last off Ben Stokes, is the spotlight of this IPL.
A son of a hawker, left-hander Rinku has risen from humble beginnings to IPL fame after being picked by two-time champions Kolkata for $97,000 in the 2018 public sale.
Teammate Venkatesh Iyer referred to as him “Lord Rinku” after the match-winning unbeaten 21-ball 48 and the 25-year-old adopted up his efficiency with two half-centuries in the subsequent 4 matches.
Big buys sizzle
Punjab made historical past by choosing Sam Curran as the costliest IPL participant for $2.23 million and the all-rounder has greater than delivered with some stellar performances together with a match-winning 55 on Saturday.
England’s white-ball wizard has additionally led Punjab in three matches — two wins and a loss — in the absence of injured skipper Shikhar Dhawan.
Australia’s Cameron Green overcame some peculiar scores to hit 64 off 40 balls and took a wicket along with his tempo bowling for Mumbai Indians final week to dwell as much as his $2.11 million price ticket.
Exciting England batsman Harry Brook lit up the IPL with the first century of the season to arrange an enormous win for Hyderabad, who purchased the gifted 24-year-old for $1.6 million.
Warner’s Delhi flop
Delhi Capitals have now registered two successive victories however after 5 losses Ricky Ponting’s males stay backside of the 10-team pile with out injured talisman Rishabh Pant.
Skipper David Warner has been among the runs however admitted his struggles with a comparatively poor strike price of 120, nicely behind the likes of Du Plessis on 165.
After a scrappy first win, Delhi edged Sunrisers Hyderabad of their newest triumph and Warner stays hopeful of creating it three in a row in his crew’s bid for a primary IPL title.
Another disappointment has been Chennai Super Kings’ England import Stokes, who scored seven and eight in the opening two video games earlier than being pressured out with a toe damage.
SKY falls in
Dubbed “SKY” or “Mr. 360” for his all-round hitting prowess together with the audacious scoop shot, Suryakumar Yadav smashed his first fifty of the season this weekend however has struggled to satisfy massive expectations.
Suryakumar, beforehand a T20 sensation, began the IPL with scores of 15, one and a first-ball duck, earlier than scoring a match-winning 25-ball 43 to deliver some smiles to his followers.
He additionally got here into the match on the again of three successive golden zeroes in the ODI collection in opposition to Australia final month.
Was nonetheless named Wisden cricketer of the yr for an excellent 2022.
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