Rohit Sharma, Matheesha Pathirana and Rishabh Pant are all included in the fourth 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): After getting only six runs against LSG at the Eden, Narine set the Gardens alight when RR came calling, hitting a masterful 109 off 56 balls. His first-ever IPL century saw Narine strike 13 boundaries, including six humongous sixes. The West Indies veteran also had a successful week with the ball, with one for 17 against LSG and two for 30 against RR, where he was yet again the most economical bowler in the match
Rohit Sharma (MI): The hitman was due a big score in the IPL and duly obliged against CSK, batting through the innings at the Wankhede to end up with an unbeaten 105 off 63 balls. It was Rohit’s first IPL ton in 12 years, even though it was not enough to get MI over the line. The Indian captain followed up his century with a breezy 25-ball 36 against PBKS four days later
Travis Head (SRH): Even by T20 standards, Head batted with blistering pace against RCB at the Chinnaswamy on Monday evening. The Australian was rampant from the get-go, finishing with 102 off just 41 balls, with nine fours and eight sixes to his name. Had he batted for another five or six overs, Head may well have broken Chris Gayle’s record for the highest individual score in an IPL game. That being said, Head will have a few more opportunities to put that right this season
Rishabh Pant (DC): Spidey is back in full flow and how! Pant smashed 41 off 24 balls against LSG at the Ekana Stadium last Friday, with DC winning the game with 11 balls to spare. Five days later, in Ahmedabad, Pant was instrumental behind the stumps with two catches and two stumpings against GT, before his 16 not out secured another successful chase for the Capitals, this time inside the ninth over
Shivam Dube (CSK): A brilliant innings of 66 not out somewhat slipped under the radar thanks to heroics from Mahendra Singh Dhoni, but Dube’s knock in his hometown put the MI bowlers out of commission before Dhoni arrived. Striking at 173, Dube hit 10 boundaries and two sixes to propel CSK to a match-winning total of 206
Dinesh Karthik (RCB): When DK came into bat at 121 for four against SRH, RCB had not even got close to half their target even though they had lost almost half their side. And yet, for a brief moment, it seemed as if Karthik would pull off the impossible. Striking at a mind-boggling 237, Karthik hammered his way to 83 off 35 balls, with one of his seven sixes notching up 108m. Even though RCB fell short by 25 runs, Karthik may well have secured his ticket to the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup with his performance
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (CSK): How can you make it into the team of the week if you have only faced four balls all week? You can if you are MSD, who smashed 20 runs against MI on Sunday, including three sixes off his first three balls against a hapless Hardik Pandya. With CSK winning by 20 runs, Dhoni’s fireworks were literally the difference in the game. Could a dream return to the Indian team for this summer’s World Cup still be on the cards for Captain Cool?!
Kuldeep Yadav (DC): How do you get the wickets of K.L. Rahul, Marcus Stoinis and Nicholas Pooran, all for just 20 runs? Ask Kuldeep, the chinaman who seems to have found a renewed vigour in the shortest format now that his buddy Pant is back behind the stumps. Kuldeep followed his man of the match performance against LSG with a watertight spell against GT, giving away just 16 runs and piling on the pressure for his fellow bowlers to profit from
Jasprit Bumrah (MI): Unable to build momentum due to four one-over spells against CSK, India’s ace pacer finished with figures of zero for 27, before returning to his devastating best against PBKS in Mullanpur. Getting Sam Curran and Rilee Rossouw in his first over and the wicket of high-flying Shashank Singh in his third, Bumrah finished with figures of three for 21, going at just over five runs per over, as MI overcame some late jitters en route to bagging two vital points
Avesh Khan (RR): It must be really difficult (or really easy!) to stand still when Jos Buttler is going crazy at the other end. But Avesh had to do just that after he wrapped up an impressive spell of two for 35 against KKR, getting rid of Phil Salt with a stunning reflex catch while also bagging the wicket of Andre Russell. Avesh came to Eden in good form, having bowled a similar spell of two for 34 against PBKS three days earlier
Matheesha Pathirana (CSK): While everyone was still reeling from Dhoni’s six-hitting display, Pathirana quietly went about his business dismissing Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav in back-to-back deliveries before adding the scalps of Tilak Verma and Romario Shepherd in Mumbai. At the cost of just 28 runs, this was another stock-raising spell from the Sri Lankan, worthy of the man of the match award
Impact Player: Jos Buttler (RR): While Buttler did not feature against PBKS on Saturday, he more than made up for it by batting the entire 20 overs against KKR three days later. In one of the most topsy-turvy chases of this season, Buttler snatched victory from the jaws of defeat for RR with his 107 not out off 60 balls. Soaking up the pressure till the 14th over, Buttler did not let a slow start faze him, as he entered Superman mode to hit 67 in his last 30 balls and seal the win for RR off the last ball of the match
