Ravindra Jadeja, Jos Buttler and Jasprit Bumrah are all included in the third 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
Virat Kohli (RCB): While he may have been dismissed early on against MI at the Wankhede on Thursday, Kohli’s 113 not out off 72 against RR in Jaipur on Saturday was out of the top drawer, with the Orange Cap holder scoring almost 62 per cent of the team’s total on the night. On paper, Kohli’s was the joint-slowest IPL ton in history (tying Manish Pandey’s 67-ball century from 2009), but given the lack of contributions from the rest of the RCB batting, it was arguably one of Kohli’s best IPL knocks of all time
Jos Buttler (RR): The innings that spoiled Kohli’s party saw Buttler find form in this season’s IPL, with his sixth century in the competition. Finishing off the game with a six that got RR over the line and propelled him to three figures, Buttler was outstanding in reaching 100 off just 58 balls, hitting nine fours and four vintage sixes. Unfortunately for the Englishman, he could not continue the carnage against GT four days later, exiting with just eight runs to his name
Sanju Samson (RR): After a brief lull, Samson, too, roared back to form when RR played back-to-back home games against RCB and GT, notching up consecutives fifties. Samson followed up his 42-ball 69 against RCB with 68 not out off 38 balls against GT, besides registering a smart stumping of Shubman Gill in the second innings of the second game. Samson struck a total of 15 fours and four sixes across both games, firmly putting himself in the race for the Orange Cap and as well as a place in India’s T20 World Cup team
Nitish Reddy (SRH): He was there at the end as SRH saw off CSK last Friday, but Reddy truly took centre stage on Tuesday night, as he exploded with 64 off 37 against PBKS, complete with four fours and five sixes. In a batting lineup packed with power hitters, Reddy stepped up to the plate on an evening when no other SRH batter scored more than 25. To further underline his impact, Reddy also got the breakthrough of Jitesh Sharma in a game that SRH clinched by just two runs
Tristan Stubbs (DC): In a high-scoring affair in Mumbai on Sunday, Stubbs stood tall, even as the rest of DC’s lower-middle order collapsed around him, scoring a superb 71 not out off only 25 balls. With a mammoth 235 to chase, Stubbs entered the fray with DC still in the hunt at 110 for two. But the 23-year-old South African quickly ran out of partners even though he hit three fours and seven sixes, operating at a strike rate of 284
Krunal Pandya (LSG): Four overs, 11 runs and three wickets against GT at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow is enough to get the elder Pandya into our team this week. Pandya’s crucial wicket of Sai Sudarshan was one of the turning points of the game, before the 33-year-old’s left-arm spin sent B.R. Sharath and Darshan Nalkande back to the pavilion. Even though Pandya was not the standout bowler for LSG, he played his part in what became a comfortable win by 33 runs
Ravindra Jadeja (CSK): While he went wicketless and scored a slow 31 not out in a losing cause against SRH at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Jadeja drew first blood in CSK’s win against KKR when he took a flying catch off the very first ball at Chepauk. Following up his acrobatics in the field, Jadeja picked up three wickets for 18 runs in his four overs, getting Sunil Narine and Angkrish Raghuvanshi in the same over. His bowling heroics meant that Jadeja was not required to bat as CSK coasted to the target of 138 with seven wickets to spare
Rashid Khan (GT): Until Wednesday night, Rashid had not looked in his element for GT, struggling to provide the match-winning impact that the IPL has come to expect from one of its most consistent performers. A mediocre display against LSG raised more doubts about Rashid’s form, before the Afghan all-rounder turned things around with a defining display against RR. Dismissing Buttler and giving away only 18 runs even as RR almost hit 200 was an impressive start for Rashid, but what followed was far more spectacular. With GT almost out of contention, Rashid smashed 24 off 11, including four off the last ball of the match, to prove that he remains one of the most underrated finishers in the tournament
Jasprit Bumrah (MI): India’s fast bowling spearhead was at his bamboozling best against RCB, picking up five wickets for just 21 runs in his four overs. After getting rid of Kohli in the third over, Bumrah finished the innings with aplomb, with two wickets in the 17th over and two more in the 19th. This after being the only bowler to go under six runs per over in the match against DC, with two wickets to boot
Arshdeep Singh (PBKS): When you dismiss Travis Head, Aiden Markram, Nitsh Reddy and Abdul Samad while giving away 29 runs, you definitely deserve to get into any weekly XI. That is exactly what Arshdeep managed when SRH visited PBKS’ new home stadium in Mullanpur. Even though PBKS lost, Arshdeep did all he could to keep the dangerous SRH batting lineup under control alongside climbing a few spots on the Purple Cap ladder
Yash Thakur (LSG): Someone needs to investigate what the the LSG support staff are doing because they seem to be unearthing fast bowling gems like candies. With Mayank Yadav getting injured against GT, Yash Thakur came up trumps, registering the first five-wicket haul of this year’s IPL. Having got Gill early, Thakur followed it up with four more wickets at the death, bundling GT out for 130 and conceding 30 runs in his four overs
Impact Player: Ishan Kishan (MI): MI decimated RCB on Thursday, thanks in no small part to Kishan, who blazed to 69 off just 34, with seven fours and five sixes. One of those sixes included a heave over the offside off Mohammed Siraj that Brian Lara would have been proud of. Kishan had also begun the week all guns blazing, getting back among the runs with a 23-ball 42 against DC, with four fours and two sixes
