Rishabh Pant, Mayank Yadav and Sunil Narine are all included in the second team of the week for IPL 2024. Every XI can contain a maximum of four overseas players besides having no more than three players from a single franchise. Like last year, there is also an Impact Player to be chosen every week in addition to the starting XI
Photos courtesy: PTI
Sunil Narine (KKR): Returning to his role as pinch hitter at the top of the order for KKR, Narine has made a mockery of those who still feel his batting exploits are a fluke. Starting off with a 22-ball 47 against RCB in his 500th T20 game, which included two fours and five towering sixes, Narine dished out more of the same against DC with a swashbuckling 85 off 39. Against DC, he struck seven fours and seven sixes, meaning 70 out of his 85 runs came from boundaries. Not to forget that Narine also chipped in with a wicket each in both of these games
Quinton de Kock (LSG): Starting off the week with a 38-ball 54 against PBKS, de Kock carried his fine form into the game versus RCB. There is just something about former RCB players putting on a display against the team they once used to represent, and the South African continued the trend, as he smashed eight fours and five sixes enroute a 56-ball 81, taking LSG to a match-winning total of 181
Shubman Gill (GT): Last season’s top scorer got out prematurely against SRH, after looking set to take GT over the line. While GT did get the win eventually, Gill must have been disappointed on missing out on a big one. No wonder then that he compensated five days later, carrying his bat against PBKS with a masterful 89 off 48, with six fours and four sixes, which steered GT to 199 on home soil, but not enough to stop PBKS
Angkrish Raghuvanshi (KKR): He was three years old when KKR took on RCB in the opening clash of the IPL way back in 2008. But when he walked in to bat against DC almost 16 years later on his IPL debut, Raghuvanshi was nerveless. With Narine teeing off at the other end, Raghuvanshi kept up the momentum, notching up 54 at a strike rate of 200, with five fours and three sixes, including a mind-boggling reverse-lap over third man for a memorable maximum
Rishabh Pant (DC): Pant roared back into form this week scoring a magnificent 51 off 32 against CSK and taking a stellar catch to dismiss his opposite number in Ruturaj Gaikwad. Three days later, with a mountain of runs to chase against KKR, Pant looked in fine fettle once more, hitting 55 off just 25, even though DC lost by more than a 100 runs. With the Delhi skipper hitting sixes just like we remembered him doing, the signs are looking good for a comeback to Indian colours sooner than expected
Nicholas Pooran (LSG): After years of not living up to the billing in the IPL, Pooran is finally coming into his own for LSG. The past week saw him take the PBKS bowling to the cleaners with 42 in double quick time. He followed that up with five scintillating sixes and one four in his unbeaten 40 off 21 against RCB, making light work of the short boundaries in Bengaluru. To add to his rising stock, Pooran also took over the captaincy in place of K.L. Rahul during LSG’s bowling innings against PBKS
Shashank Singh (PBKS): After an indifferent nine not out against LSG, Shashank walked in to bat against GT with PBKS at 70 for 4, needing 130 runs in a little more than 11 overs. What followed was a blinder of a knock, even as wickets tumbled at the other end. Shashank’s 61 off 29, with six fours and four sixes, not only gave PBKS their second win of the season but also secured the man of the match award for the man who may have become an overnight solution to PBKS’s finishing woes
Trent Boult (RR): The Kiwi is back with his magical spells once again as he dismantled the MI top order in no time at the Wankhede on Monday. Dismissing Rohit Sharma, Naman Dhir and Dewald Brevis within his first two overs, Boult finished for figures of three for 22. Not only was Boult able to move the ball both ways, he also managed to find the accuracy that makes him devastating in this format, complementing fellow left-armer, Nandre Burger, perfectly
Mohit Sharma (GT): Even at 35, Mohit has not forgotten how to get breakthroughs at crucial intervals in the game. Coming up against an intimidating SRH batting lineup, Mohit struck thrice in his four overs, giving away only 25 runs to claim the man of the match award and restrict SRH to 162. His scalps on a scorching afternoon in Ahmedabad were Abhishek Sharma, Shahbaz Ahmed and Washington Sundar
Yuzvendra Chahal (RR): While Boult toyed with MI’s top order, Chahal decided to get into the act once Hardik Pandya and Tilak Varma gained some sort of momentum in the middle overs. Chahal got rid of both the batters, before picking up Gerald Coetzee in a miserly spell of four overs for three wickets and 11 runs at an economy of less than three runs per over. With the T20 World Cup on the horizon, Chahal is once again making a case to be on the Indian team bus as he stakes his claim for another Purple Cap this season
Mayank Yadav (LSG): The latest revelation in the IPL is a 21-year-old speedster who is regularly taking the speedometer to places no Indian has taken it before. After being nurtured for two years, LSG unleashed Yadav against PBKS, and the Delhi boy responded with three for 27 in his four overs. Three days later, he was even harder to score off, conceding just 13 runs while picking up another three wickets. These two man of the match spells from Yadav also included deliveries at 156.7 kmph and 155.6 kmph, comfortably the two fastest balls this season
Impact Player: Mukesh Kumar (DC): Three overs, 21 runs and 3 wickets. Mukesh’s performance against CSK was straight out of the top drawer, as he got a well-set Ajinkya Rahane out for 45, swinging the match back in favour of DC. He went on to bolster his wicket tally by dismissing a dangerous Shivam Dube and Sameer Rizvi, both of whom would have been crucial in building CSK’s hopes towards chasing down the target of 191. Mukesh’s heroics provided DC with a 20-run victory in a game where DC put in one of the best all-round bowling displays by any team so far this season
