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WEEK WRAP: Royals, Knight Riders unbeaten as IPL enters fourth week

cricket08 April 2024 06:23| © MWP
By:Ross Roche
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Joseph Buttler © Gallo Images

The Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders are the only unbeaten teams remaining in the 2024 Tata Indian Premier League as the competition heads into its fourth week.

Inaugural IPL winners the Royals will hope that their unblemished start to the competition will bode well for them as they attempt to add to their sole title picked up 16 years ago, with them currently topping the log on eight points after four straight wins.

Two time champs the Knight Riders are second on six points with three wins out of three, and sit ahead of the Lucknow Super Giants, who have played a game more, on net run rate.

The Royals were in action twice over the past week, picking up thumping six wicket wins over the Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

Against Mumbai the hosts batted first and managed a well-below par 125/9 in their 20 overs with Hardik Pandya (34) top scoring while Yuzvendra Chahal, 3/11, Trent Boult, 3/22, and Nandre Burger, 2/32, dominated with the ball.

The Royals chase was then led by Riyan Das slamming an unbeaten 54 off 39 balls (5x4, 3x6) as they cruised home with 27 balls to spare.

TWO TONS

The match against RCB was a tale of two centuries as Virat Kohli slammed an unbeaten 113 off 72 (12x4, 4x6) to lead his team to 183/3, only to be eclipsed by Jos Buttler’s unbeaten 100 off 58 (9x4, 4x6) as the Royals made it over the line with five balls remaining.

The Knight Riders were only in action once over the past week, with them obliterating the Delhi Capitals by a mammoth 106 runs.

Batting first the Knight Riders powered to a huge 272/7, with Sunil Narine, 85 off 39 (7x4, 7x6), Angkrish Raghuvanshi, 54 off 27 (5x4, 3x6), and Andre Russell, 41 off 19 (4x4, 3x6) the key contributors, while Proteas star Anrich Nortje picked up three wickets but was pumped for 59 runs in his four overs.

Rishabh Pant, 55 off 25 (4x4, 5x6) and Tristan Stubbs, 54 off 32 (4x4, 4x6) lit up the chase briefly with a 93-run partnership, but with no other batters contributing they fell well short as Vaibhav Arora, 3/27, Varun Vinod, 3/33, and Mitchell Starc, 2/25, helped bowl them out for 166.

The Capitals other game in the week was a 29-run loss against Mumbai in a high scoring clash, that saw them drop to the bottom of the table as Mumbai picked up their first win of the competition.

Mumbai batted first and managed a daunting 234/5 amazingly without a single half century as Rohit Sharma (49), Tim David (45no), Ishan Kishan (42), and Pandya (39) all batted at terrific strike rates, but the show was stolen by Romario Shepherds unbeaten 10-ball 39 (3x4, 4x6) which included him smashing Nortje’s final over for 32 runs.

STUNNING STUBBS

Stubbs crunched an unbeaten 71 off 25 balls (3x4, 7x6) in response to try give his team a chance to win, but with support from only Prithvi Shaw (66) and Abishek Porel (41) it wasn’t enough as they ended comfortably short.

The Super Giants enjoyed a relatively successful week as they clinched a 28-run win over RCB and a 33-run win over the Gujarat Giants.

QDK KLAP

Against RCB Quintin de Kock led the Super Giants batting effort with 81 off 56 (8x4, 5x6), while he was backed up by a quickfire 40 from Nicholas Pooran as managed 181/5 in their 20 overs.

RCB could only respond with 153 all out, with Mahipal Lomror’s 13-ball 33 the highest score, while Mayank Yadav, 3/14, and Naveen Murid, 2/25, led the bowling effort.

In the Titans match Marcus Stoinis (58), KL Rahul (33) and Pooran (32no) helped the Super Giants to 163/5 batting first, with the Titans then all out for 130 in response, as Yash Thakur, 5/30, and Krunal Pandya, 3/11, starred with the ball.

In other games over the week the Sunrisers Hyderabad beat the Chennai Super Kings by six wickets and the Punjab Kings beat the Titans by three wickets.

In the Sunrisers match the Super Kings batted first, scoring 165/5 with Shivan Dube (45), Ajinkya Rahane, (35) and Ravindra Jadeja (31) making positive contributions.

AIDAN ON THE MARK

The Sunrisers then powered home with nine balls to spare thanks mainly to Aiden Markram’s 50 off 36 (4x4, 1x6) and Abhishek Sharma’s stunning 12-ball 37 (3x4, 4x6).

The Titans and Punjab game was a last over thriller, with the Titans batting first and scoring 199/4, thanks to Gill’s unbeaten 89 off 48 (6x4, 4x6) as the major contribution.

Shashank Singh’s unbeaten 61 off 29 (6x4, 4x6) was however the match winning effort for Punjab, while Prabhsimran Singh (35) and Ashutosh Sharma (31) also made vital contributions to get them over the line with just one ball to spare.

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