Sunil Narine, Jasprit Bumrah and Virat Kohli are all included in the seventh 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
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Sunil Narine (KKR): For KKR, Narine has been an absolute blessing this season. Their longest-serving player may have missed out with the bat against MI at the Wankhede, but he did chip in with two wickets for just 22 runs, helping the Knights defend 169. Two days later, Narine took just 39 balls to blaze his way to 81 on a supposedly slow wicket in Lucknow, before adding another wicket to his name to seal a man of the match performance
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Travis Head (SRH): A knock of 48 off 30 balls against MI was comparatively slow by Head’s standards. But the Australian was back in his element against LSG in Hyderabad. Out to chase 166, Head smashed eight fours and eight sixes en route to an unbeaten 89 off just 30 balls, striking at almost 300! With scintillating support from Abishek Sharma at the other end, SRH chased down their total with more than 10 overs and all 10 wickets to spare
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Virat Kohli (RCB): Consistency and Kohli go hand-in-hand, with RCB’s talisman overcoming chatter about his strike rate with two explosive performances this week. First, Kohli hit 42 off 27 against GT on Saturday as RCB chased down 148 with ease. Then, Kohli made PBKS pay for dropping him twice even before he crossed 10, with a swashbuckling 92 in almost double quick time on Thursday, which included seven fours and six sixes
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Sanju Samson (RR): RR may have lost their game against DC at the Kotla, but the debate will go on as to whether or not Samson was out. Had he not been, he would likely have scored the 20 runs that RR eventually lost by. As it turned out, Samson ended his stay at the crease with a crisp 86 off 46 balls, studded with eight fours and six sixes, showing once again why he has been picked for India for the T20 World Cup
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Suryakumar Yadav (MI): MI’s most decisive player against SRH by miles on Monday, SKY is back to his best. His breathtaking 102 not out off 51 balls came after MI were tottering at 31 for three in the fifth over. The batters before Suryakumar had scored 9, 4 and 0, but Surya seemed to be playing on a different pitch, silencing Pat Cummins and Co. with 12 fours and six sixes. This after his valiant 56 off 35 balls in a losing cause against KKR last Friday
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Venkatesh Iyer (KKR): While KKR’s top order had their first batting collapse against MI at the Wankhede, one man stood tall and scored a significant 70 off 52 balls, dragging KKR to a match-winning total of 169. Batting at his happy hunting ground, Venkatesh put on a classy show, with six fours and three maximums to boot. His man of the match display in Mumbai was followed up with one run off one ball against LSG, with Venkatesh remaining unbeaten as KKR posted 235 runs batting first
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Ravindra Jadeja (CSK): Sir Jadeja turned it on with both bat and ball for CSK against PBKS in Dharamshala on Sunday. The southpaw was CSK’s highest scorer with 43 off 26 balls, before an excellent spell of three for 20 in his four overs saw him pick up the crucial wickets of Prabhsimran Singh, Sam Curran and Ashutoush Sharma to dampen PBKS’s hopes of making it to the playoffs
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Piyush Chawla (MI): At 35, Chawla shows no signs of slowing down, having got the better of Head, Heinrich Klaasen and Abdul Samad against SRH at the expense of 33 runs. On the same Wankhede track three days earlier, Chawla proved even harder to get away for KKR, who could only score 15 runs off his three overs, with Chawla dismissing Rinku Singh with a caught and bowled effort
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Mitchell Starc (KKR): Making his first appearance in our team of the week, Starc has finally come good for KKR after the lofty price they paid for him at the auction. With KKR getting back-to-back wins against MI and LSG on the road, Starc proved instrumental in both. His four wickets to clean up MI at the Wankhede while conceding 33 runs arguably ranks as his finest IPL spell. The Aussie then followed it up with two overs in Lucknow, which yielded another wicket as KKR marched on to win by 98 runs
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Bhuvneshwar Kumar (SRH): It is a shame you cannot take more than 16 players to the World Cup because Bhuvneshwar would have probably been India’s 17th pick. Despite SRH losing at the Wankhede, Bhuvi was at his economical best, giving away just 22 runs while picking up a solitary wicket to add to a rare maiden over. The wily seamer got even tighter two nights later as he got the wickets of Quinton de Kock and Marcus Stoinis to deflate LSG’s hopes of putting up a massive total, finishing with two wickets for 12 runs at an economy rate of just three
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Jasprit Bumrah (MI): Even though MI are no longer in contention for the playoffs, their spearhead is a gift that keeps on giving. Three for 18 off against KKR and another tight spell of one for 23 versus SRH meant Bumrah kept his wonderful track record at the Wankhede intact. Outstanding at the death against KKR, Bumrah was almost as economical against SRH in what are fantastic signs for India ahead of the T20 World Cup
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Impact Player: Joshua Little (GT): GT may have lost convincingly against RCB, but not before Little had a large impact. The 24-year-old left-armer from Ireland did not have a lot of room for error with GT defending 148. Even though he was hit for 45 runs in his four overs, Little did his growing reputation no harm by sending the likes of Faf du Plessis, Glenn Maxwell, Rajat Patidar and Cameroon Green back to the pavilion
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