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Super Kings hit first speed bump as IPL 2024 heats up

cricket02 April 2024 10:26| © MWP
By:Ross Roche
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Daryl Mitchell (L) and Shivam Dube © Getty Images

The defending champion Chennai Super Kings hit their first speed bump of the 2024 Tata Indian Premier League on Sunday when they were bumped off the top of the table by the Delhi Capitals after suffering their first loss.

After winning the opening game of this year’s edition against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) by six wickets, the Super Kings followed that up with an impressive 63-run win over the Gujarat Titans this past Tuesday.

In that match Shivam Dube (51), Rachin Ravindra (46) and Ruturaj Gaikwad (46) helped them score 206/6 batting first before Tushar Deshpande, 2/21, Deepak Chahar, 2/28, and Mohammad Rahman, 2/20, helped restrict the Titans to 143/8 in reply.

This saw the Super Kings head into Sunday’s match against the Capitals, who were winless at the time, top of the log, but after a 20-run defeat it saw them slip to second behind the Kolkata Knight Riders on net run rate.

The Capitals win was built around David Warner (52), Rishabh Pant (51) and Prithvi Shaw (43) getting them to 191/5 batting first before Mukesh Kumar, 3/21, and Khaleel Ahmed, 2/21, shone with the ball which sealed the win despite a late MS Dhoni special of 37no off 16 balls in vain.

The Knight Riders only match of the past week was a comprehensive seven wicket win over RCB on Friday night.

RCB batted first and managed a decent 182/6 thanks to a 59-ball 83 from star Virat Kohli, however the Knight Riders easily chased it down with 19 balls to spare with Venkatesh Iyer (50), Sunil Narine (47), Shreyas Iyer (39) and Phil Salt (30) all contributing to the successful chase.

RCB’s only other game of the week was their sole win of this years IPL so far, with them edging the Punjab Kings by four wickets after Mohammad Siraj, 2/26, and Glenn Maxwell, 2/29, helped limit Punjab to 176/6, before Kohli was again the key contributor with a 49-ball 77 as they won with four balls to spare.

On Wednesday the IPL saw what was arguably its best game since its inception in 2008, when the Sunrisers Hyderabad beat the Mumbai Indians by 31 runs in a high scoring classic.

The Sunrisers hit the highest ever total in the competition’s history batting first, powering to 277/3 thanks to an unbeaten 80 off 34 balls from Heinrich Klaasen, 63 off 23 from Abhishek Sharma, 62 off 24 from Travis Head and unbeaten 42 from Aiden Markram.

Rising SA talent, 17-year-old Kwena Maphaka made his IPL bow in the game and was sent to all parts conceding 66 in his four overs, but he wasn’t the only one as Gerald Coetzee, 1/57 in four, and Piyush Chalwa, 0/34, and Shams Mulani, 0/33, both in two overs, were also smashed.

It definitely wasn’t a night for the bowlers as Mumbai responded with 246/5, with Namboori Varma, 64 off 34, and Tim David, 42no off 22, the top scorers, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 0/53, and Mayank Markande, 0/52, both went for over fifty runs in their four overs.

The Sunrisers other game in the week was a disappointing seven wicket loss to the Titans on Sunday afternoon.

After their fireworks on Wednesday, they could only managed 162/8 batting first four days later with Abdul Farooq and Sharma top scoring with 29 each, while Mohit Sharma dominated with the ball picking up 3/25.

The Titans then made relatively easy work of the chase, cruising to 168/3 with five balls to spare thanks largely to David Miller’s unbeaten 44 off 27 balls, with him finishing the match with a six, and 45 from Sai Sudharshan.

In other games in the week the Rajasthan Royals beat the Capitals by 12 runs on Thursday and Lucknow Super Giants beat Punjab by 21 runs on Saturday.

The Royals scored 185/5 batting first thanks to an unbeaten 84 off 45 balls from Riyan Das, before the Capitals responded with 173/5 as 49 from Warner and an unbeaten 44 off 23 balls from Tristan Stubbs was unable to get them over the line.

For the Super Giants their 199/8 batting first was built around Quinton de Kock’s 54 off 38 balls, 42 off 21 from Nicholas Pooran and an unbeaten 43 off 22 from Krunal Pandya, while Sam Curran picked up 3/28 with the ball.

Punjab could only respond with 178/5 despite a 102-run opening stand between Shikhar Dhawan, 70 off 50, and Johnny Bairstow, 42 off 29, as they faded badly down the home stretch with Mayank Yadav picking up 3/27.

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