IPL 2022: THREE PLAYOFF SPOTS, FIVE TEAMS REMAIN

A week of league matches remain during the 15^th season of the Indian Premier League, during which five teams will vie for the final two spots available in the playoffs.

How did it come to this? Who sealed passage to the playoffs this past week? Whose season ended? Here’s a recap of the major talking points from May 9-15.

MUMBAI CRASH TO NINTH LOSS DESPITE BUMRAH MAGIC

Mumbai Indians’ calamitous IPL 2022 campaign suffered another shocking defeat on Monday at the DY Patil Stadium, where chasing a target of 166 the five-time winners were bowled out for 113, a mighty 52 runs short of Kolkata Knight Riders’ total.

While few would have expected this to be a straightforward chase given Mumbai’s sorry batting state this season, coupled by the absence of their best batsman Suryakumar Yadav, who before the match was ruled out of the remainder of the tournament, the manner in which they collapsed in the span of 15 balls was stunning. With Ishan Kishan looking solid on 51, KKR captain Shreyas Iyer called back Pat Cummins to bowl the 15^th over and Australia’s Test captain turned the game around with three wickets.

Kishan was bounced out, failing to keep down his shot; Daniel Sams was forced to fend another bouncer and nicked off; Murugan Ashwin was hurried for pace and ramped the ball straight to Varun Chakravarthy at third man. From 100/4, Mumbai had fallen to 102/7. To add to the chaos, their chase petered out with three run-outs in four balls, which meant that all told, eight wickets had fallen for 44 runs.

This, after Jasprit Bumrah had doubled his wicket tally for the season with scarcely believable figures of 5/9 in four overs. His sensational performance reduced KKR from 136/6 in the 14^th over to 165/9 after 20, and the highlight was Bumrah’s triple-wicket maiden over.

Later in the week, however, MI rolled over Chennai Super Kings for 97, their second-lowest total ever, with four overs remaining, and finished the job with five wickets in hand. This defeat meant that CSK are out of the playoffs race.

LUCKNOW SUBSIDE, GUJARAT FIRST TO ENTER PLAYOFFS

In last week’s clash between the top two teams on the leaderboard, Gujarat Titans trumped Lucknow Super Giants in emphatic manner to grab the top spot and become the first team to reach the IPL 2022 playoffs.

Bouncing back from two losses, Gujarat snapped LSG’s four-match winning run by smashing their opponents by 62 runs which was their ninth win in 12 games in their first IPL season. Key to victory was Shubman Gill batting all 20 overs on a two-paced Pune surface to score 63* from 49 deliveries. While Gill held fort against some good pace bowling, David Miller (26) and Rahul Tewatia (22*) added some runs to take GT to 144/4 which, on the face of it, did not look like a secure enough total.

But in an insipid performance, LSG folded for just 82 inside 14 overs with Rashid Khan the start with 4/24. The last seven wickets tumbled for 49 runs with Rashid starting the slide by having Krunal Pandya stumped for 5 and finishing the match with the wickets of Deepak Hooda and Avesh Khan in the 14^th over. The manner in which Marcus Stoinis was run out when Hooda called for a couple of runs after he swept the ball out to deep midwicket but then stopped with his partner nearly halfway down the pitch summed up LSG’s shocking chase.

Their total of 82 is the second-lowest total of IPL 2022, after Royal Challengers Bangalore’s 62 all out.

PUNJAB PUMMEL HAZLEWOOD, BOOST NET RUN RATE

RCB’S grasp on the fourth spot was slightly loosened after Punjab Kings beat them by 54 runs to increase their hopes of reaching the playoffs. Even if RCB win their final match to get to 16 points, it may not be enough to qualify. Punjab’s win improved their net run rate from -0.231 to 0.023 but they need to win their remaining two matches.

Having not conceded more than 36 runs in any of his eight prior appearances in IPL 2022, Josh Hazlewood was taken for the most expensive figures of the season – 64 off four wicketless overs. The Australian fast bowler’s evening at the Brabourne Stadium began with Jonny Bairstow carving him for 22 runs, and his rare off day ended when another Englishman, the dangerous Liam Livingstone, smacked him for 24 runs in the penultimate over.

These fifties to Bairstow (66 off 29) and Livingstone (70 off 42) propelled Punjab to 209/9, a total that RCB never came close to challenging. Virat Kohli once again failed, out for 20 to Kagiso Rabada who claimed 3/21, and the innings ended at 155/9 after 20 overs.

RUSSELL KEEPS KKR’S SLIM CHANCES ALIVE

Two teams struggling to string together a sequence of must-needed wins to remain in contention for the playoffs met in Pune on Friday, and it was KKR who walked away as victors. Led by Andre Russell’s impactful all-round performance of 49* off 28 deliveries and 3/22, KKR handed Sunrisers Hyderabad their fifth successive defeat.

Missing Cummins, who departed the tournament with injury, KKR needed Russell’s fireworks to propel them from 94/5 to 177/6. The West Indian allrounder added 63 with the returning Sam Billings, and looted 20 runs off the last over of the innings, bowled by offspinner Washington Sundar, by putting three full tosses into the stands.

Russell then grabbed the ball and gave SRH captain Kane Williamson another low score – has any IPL captain-batsman had a worse run? – as KKR checked their opponent’s chase regularly. Umesh Yadav and Tim Southee struck telling blows, Chakravarthy dried up runs and Russell returned to take out Sundar and Marco Jansen in the 18^th run. The result was a 51-run victory for KKR, for whom passage to the IPL 2022 playoffs is not in their hands. The most they can get to is 14 points, while four teams could end on 16.

For SRH, this latest defeat has further dented their hopes of qualification. They too could get to 14 points, but having the second-worst net run rate will not aid their chances.

RAJASTHAN UPEND LUCKNOW, TAKE SECOND PLACE

Rajasthan Royals moved up a spot from third to second on Sunday after beating LSG by 24 runs, a victory that has all but confirmed their place in the playoffs. One match remains for RR, versus KKR, and a win will propel them forward.

Once again Jos Buttler failed – his fourth in a row after a stunning run – but contributions from Yashaswi Jaiswal (41), Sanju Samson (32) and Devdutt Padikkal (39) plus some quick runs down the order got Rajasthan to 178/6. That proved sufficient, thanks to Trent Boult’s first meaningful contribution since the start of the competition. The New Zealand quick took two wickets in his first three overs, and backed by wickets to each of RR’s five bowlers, Lucknow were kept down to 154/8.

With two defeats in a row, LSG’s net run rate has dipped from 0.703 to 0.262 but they could still comfortably make the playoffs on account of RCB’s poor net run rate.