IPL 2022: Week four in review

A month has gone by in the 15^th season of the Indian Premier League and another week of frenetic cricket has once more seen the points table reshuffled.

Rajasthan Royals started the week in the mid-section and rose to second on Monday after the match of the week, and by Friday had claimed the top spot after their second successive thriller. Mumbai Indians slumped to their eighth loss in a row, meanwhile, while defending champions Chennai Super Kings remain alive, by a sliver.

Here’s a recap of the major talking points from week four of IPL 2022 (April 18-24).

BUTTLER TON, CHAHAL HAT-TRICK IN HIGH-SCORING THRILLER

 Chasing a target of 218, Kolkata Knight Riders threatened to pull it off with overs to spare at Mumbai’s high-scoring Brabourne Stadium but an unprecedented four-wicket over, including a hat-trick, pulled the floor from under their feet. Leading the way for Rajasthan Royals was their star spinner Yuzvendra Chahal with a match-turning 17^th over, during which he had Venkatesh Iyer stumped, KKR captain Shreyas Iyer lbw for 85 off 51 bas and Shivam Mavi and Pat Cummins out to catches without scoring.

Despite Chahal’s hat-trick – the 21^st in IPL history – KKR were not out of the fight. Umesh Yadav hit 21 from nine balls and with Sheldon Jackson looted 20 off the 18^th over and then seven off the 19^th, leaving the asking at 11 off six balls. That became nine off five but the debutant Obed McCoy kept his wits about him to remove Umesh and Jackson and seal a seven-run win for Rajasthan.

The win owed as much to Chahal and McCoy as it did to in-form opener Jos Buttler, who sliced and diced his way to 103 off 61 balls – his second century of IPL 2022 – to take his team to 217/5, the highest total of the season. Thanks to Aaron Finch (58 off 28) and Shreyas Iyer, KKR made Rajasthan sweat and at one stage they looked favourites at 178/4 after 17 overs. But Chahal emerged the game-changer as RR moved to second on the table, while KKR slipped to sixth with three losses in a row.

ICE MAN DHONI HITS 16 OFF FINAL FOUR BALLS

In the IPL, Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings has over the years been dubbed as the tournament’s ‘El Clasico’ – a nod to the storied rivalry between Spanish football clubs FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. In 2022, however, the sorry situation that the IPL’s two most successful franchises find themselves in turned their latest meeting into an ‘El Clasico’ battle for survival.

Mumbai, after six successive losses, had virtually no chance of making it to the playoffs. Chennai, with one win from six, were only marginally better off. At the DY Patil Stadium last Thursday, the beleaguered Mumbai franchise recovered from 3/23 to end with 155/7 in their 20 overs, thanks chiefly to Tilak Verma’s 51* and teenaged debutant Hrithik Shoukeen’s run-a-ball 25 as well as four dropped catches and missed stumping from MS Dhoni.

But when it came to CSK’s chase, Dhoni rolled back the years an in emphatic cameo. From the loss of Ruturaj Gaikwad first ball to a stumbled at 88/4 and then 106/6, Chennai were indebted to South African Dwaine Pretorious (22 off 14 balls) and Dhoni’s 28* from 13. Dhoni, 40, took the chase deep into the last over, which started with Pretorious falling lbw to left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat. Then, in a cool-as-ice finish, Dhoni swung Unadkat for 6, 4, 2, 4 to take CSK to 156/7 off the last ball of the game.

As soon as Dhoni whipped Unadkat’s attempted yorker to long leg for four, MI captain Rohit Sharma pulled his cap over his face. Yes, it has been that sort of season for Mumbai.

PANT-UMPIRE DRAMA OVERSHADOWS ANOTHER BUTTLER HUNDRED

Buttler continued his outstanding IPL with a second successive century, and a third of the season, to carry Rajasthan to the highest score of the tournament. But that was not the headline of this gripping match between RR and Delhi Capitals at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday.

Delhi were left fuming at a last-over umpiring decision after West Indies allrounder Rovman Powell shoveled a full toss for six, only to look at the umpires to question the height. The last over had started with Delhi needing 36 runs, and Powell hit the first two from fellow West Indian Obed McCoy into the stands. The third looked to be above waist height from multiple angles, but the on-field umpires didn’t think it was a no-ball.

This left the Delhi franchise furious, with skipper Rishabh Pant going as far as to call his players off the field despite assistant coach Shane Watson’s caution. As he was talking to Watson, Pant signaled for assistant coach Pravin Amre – standing in for full-time coach Ricky Ponting in COVID-19 isolation, to go onto the field and speak to the umpires. A heated argument ensued, during which the bowler McCoy was able to settle his nerves and bowled RR to a 15-run win.

Subsequently, the IPL governing council suspended Amre for one match while docking him his entire match fees, while Pant too was fined 100% of his match fees as per a Level 2 offence. The controversial last over overshadowed Buttler’s 116 off 65 balls, featuring nine sixes and nine fours, which helped RR to 222/2 in 20 overs. With this win, RR went to the top of the IPL 2022 points table.

KOHLI BAGS SECOND GOLDEN DUCK AS RCB EMBARASSED

Sunrisers Hyderabad started the previous week at fifth place and ended at second, on net run rate. In their only match of the week, SRH routed Royal Challengers Bangalore by nine wickets at the DY Patil Stadium for a fifth successive victory.

Put into bat after Kane Williamson won his seventh toss in a row, RCB were bowed out for just 68, the sixth lowest total in IPL history, and SRH romped to victory in 7.4 overs. This was a win set up by Hyderabad’s bowlers, starting with three wickets in the second over to tall South Africa pace bowler Marco Jansen who removed bowled RCB skipper Faf du Plessis and had Virat Kohli and Anuj Rawat edging to second slip for ducks. This was Kohli’s second straight golden duck in a row. Adding to the chaos was left-arm seamer T Natajaran’s 3/10 and left-arm spinner J Suchith’s 2/12 as RCB were skittled in 16.1 overs for this year’s lowest total.

Chasing 70, Abhishek Sharma hit 47 from 28 balls in an opening stand worth 64.

MUMBAI SLIP TO 0-8, LSG AT FOURTH PLACE

In the final match of week four, as the halfway mark of IPL 2022 rolled over, five-time champions MI were handed an eight successive defeat. For the second time versus MI this season, KL Rahul reeled off a century to set up a win for his Lucknow Super Giants who now occupy fourth spot.

Rahul’s 103* from 62 deliveries – which came eight days after an identical score versus MI – set LSG up for 168/6 in 20 overs before they limited their opponents to 132/8. Back at the Wankhede Stadium after two years, Mumbai lost Ishan Kishan and Dewald Brevis early but Rohit Sharma offered some hope with 39 before he fell to former MI team-mate Krunal Pandya (3/19). From 58/3, the chase slipped to 67/4 in 11.2 overs with the wicket of the in-form Suryakumar Yadav and that was the end of the match as a contest.

Lucknow are tied on 10 points with SRH, RR and RCB while Rohit’s MI are winless at the bottom of the table.