IPL 2019 | Studs and Duds from IPL Week 4 ft. Hardik Pandya, Imran Tahir, Kuldeep Yadav
Well, another week of exciting cricket has just gone by and we are back with our Saturday dose of Studs and Duds. A week that was branded as the “Rivalry Week” by the host broadcasters Star Sports saw so many match-turning innings and spells, and we tried covering them all in this edition.
Studs
Hardik Pandya: India's Twitter trends received an almighty stir this week when Hardik Pandya made everyone revisit 2015 all over again by smashing Pawan Negi for 23 runs in one over to take Mumbai Indians over the line. It was a classic Hardik Pandya innings which saw him collecting 37 runs from 16 balls and ensured that India’s World Cup hopes were in safe hands. Sticking to IPL, what impressed the most was the way he handled the pressure and got off to it without miscuing a single one. Most of his sixes were clean and there was no ambiguity or second thoughts before sending them back to the stands. While his bowling didn’t fire as much as he would’ve liked, but he was economical and that made him the real stud (pun not intended) of this week.
Imran Tahir: In the world of insane extremes and where hyperbole is nothing but the way we see everything surrounding us, Imran Tahir is a breath of fresh air. The alacrity to unleash one trickery up his sleeves after another and at the same time, the eagerness to be ahead of the batsmen in each step made Tahir a fine T20 bowler. It wouldn’t be far-fetched to say the South African is the best bowler this IPL, alongside Kagiso Rabada. Fact that much of Tahir’s initial success this IPL came at the spin-friendly Chepauk, but the way he operated at the Eden Gardens left many cricket aficionado gasping for breath. Ahead of the CSK-KKR clash at the Edens, spinners averaged 70 and had an economy rate of 9.23 runs per over this season in the IPL, Tahir produced his best IPL figures - 4 for 27 - by attacking the top order with a lovely mix of flight and turn. It ensured that KKR’s plans of avenging the Chepauk loss never bore fruit. If that was not the validation, then Sunrisers Hyderabad game definitely gave him one. Despite conceding 14 runs in the first over, he ended up giving away only 20 runs in four overs. Do I need to say more? The ultimate IPL spinner this season.
Keemo Paul: 21-year-old Keemo Paul’s inclusion in this week’s studs has quite a rush of clamour about it because cricket, like most sports, loves a good prodigy story. The way Paul rushed in, with full of gathering energy and a bowling action perfectly front-on, and dismissed not one, not two, but three Sunrisers top-order batsmen to bring Delhi Capitals back in the game, which his teammates eventually closed out in their favour. With the pitch tiring on, Paul bowled a variety of slower balls, including few 90kph ones to force Jonny Bairstow and Kane Williamson to dictate the pace for themselves and they were eventually caught by Kagiso Rabada. Of course, his performance against Mumbai Indians was not close to best, but that one performance alone is worthy of many applauses.
AB de Villiers: Royal Challengers Bangalore’s structure has largely been formed around the success of Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, making it imperative for the duo to perform well each and every time they stepped onto the field. While the big-hitting prowess has of course dwindled a fair bit, his game has remained precious for its originality and for the attitude that powered it. It was on the show last week as in the last couple of games, he gave his all on his way to 59* and 75 against Kings XI Punjab and Mumbai Indians respectively. While the first one resulted in a win, the second one couldn’t trump the impact and eventually putting him on the wrong side of the result. More than the brashy strokeplay, it was AB’s impact that has been the primary talking point, and it changed the game in Punjab’s head in their home city Mohali last week.
Duds
Ajinkya Rahane: For all the talk of RCB’s regular underperformance, Rajasthan Royals have slipped under the carpet probably because of their unassuming nature. Ajinkya Rahane has been terrible this season, and even though he has held onto the opening position, that hasn’t helped his case in any way. Of course, it has been clear that he is not a limited-overs natural and should transfer all his energy for the possible Hampshire County stint that he is planning now. Rahane, for all his majesty, has also been a bad tactician in this season so far and the usage of Jaydev Unadkat in the death overs just point fingers at the fact that he can’t make use of Jofra Archer and Shreyas Gopal suitably. Something needs to change in the Royals’ set-up if they want to bring an attitude change to their game and a change in leadership should be the first on their list.
Ravindra Jadeja: T20 cricket can flip your life upside down and that is what sir Jadeja figured out last week. A cracking 17-ball 31 against KKR helped his team overhaul a tricky target, but the same batter, when pitted at a slow, low Uppal wicket, huffed and puffed to a 20-ball 10. Of course, CSK crashed to a defeat. It is a game of margins and who better than Sir Jadeja knows over the last week. Even with the ball, his performances were silent as wickets dried up and the batters lined him up at the Eden. At Uppal, chasing a modest target, SRH decided not to go after him and played him out without taking much off him. With MSD set to return, Jadeja would be hoping to bounce back to his best as he is one of the vital cogs in the CSK wheel.
Rishabh Pant: This was a superb week for Delhi Capitals who followed up their comfortable victory against RCB in the previous week with more impressive wins over KXIP and SRH to move up to second on the league table before conceding the place to Mumbai Indians. After a tumultuous start to the season marked by dramatic finishes and batting collapses, Delhi is setting up a pattern that they need their openers and top-order to fire in order to give their mobilising stability and it is clear that Rishabh Pant is at the centre of it. However, the Delhi boy has not been consistent enough as he would’ve liked and in a couple of games last week, he managed to score a total of 30 runs off 2 matches. When a plan is built around you, the last thing a franchise would want is a bad performance from their main batsman. In realisation of this lies Pant’s immense contribution.
Kuldeep Yadav: If you are an Indian cricket fan, the RCB innings against KKR must have given a feel, ranging from extreme happiness to disastrous experience. Virat Kohli dictated the course of the innings in his own way and scored a fluent century while Kuldeep Yadav was smacked for 27 runs in one over by Moeen Ali and the Indian skipper. Kuldeep was inconsolable and was on his knees near the boundary. It would have been okay for normally brave Kuldeep had it been one-off, but the wrist-spinner has nowhere been as close as it made him a sudden rising star of Indian cricket a couple of years ago. In 2017, Kuldeep took 17 wickets in 16 games, but so far this season, Kuldeep's wicket tally stood at three from nine games at an average of 71.50 with the economy rate being 8.66. The next week is going to be crucial for the wrist-spinner.
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