A mass Australian exodus and Virat Kohli on another planet: IPL week 6 in review — Part 2

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  Manjunath Kiran / AFP

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  Sajjad Hussain / AFP

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  Manjunath Kiran / AFP

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  Jeffrey E Biteng / The National

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  Manjunath Kiran / AFP

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  Sajjad Hussain / AFP

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  Indranil Mukherjee / AFP

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  Manjunath Kiran / AFP

Nisha Shetty, a writer for Wisden India, provides a review of the past few days from the Indian Premier League.

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AUSSIE EXODUS

Kings XI Punjab’s Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis have returned home early, the former due to a side strain and the latter for personal issues, joining the long list of Australian players who have had to take an early flight home from the tournament. That includes Kolkata Knight Riders’ John Hastings (ankle injury), Rising Pune Supergiants’ Steven Smith (wrist injury) and Mitchell Marsh (side strain), and Punjab’s Shaun Marsh (back injury). It’s been that sort of season where injuries to key players across all teams have occurred far too regularly. While it will cause a minor migraine for franchises, Cricket Australia (CA) will be having a bigger headache, especially with a limited-overs triangular series in the Caribbean, also featuring West Indies and South Africa, later this month. Hastings has already been ruled out, and CA will be desperately hoping that the others regain fitness and fast.

STITCHED UP, PUMPED UP

Why this Kohli-veri, bowlers everywhere this IPL season must be asking. His consistency this season has been other-worldly to say the least: 75, 79, 33, 80, 100*, 14, 52, 108*, 20, 7, 109, 75*, 113. Law of averages? Pffft. Even a split webbing in his left hand while fielding in the match against Kolkata Knight Riders couldn’t slow him down. He was off the field for only an over and not only did he come out to bat, he also remained unbeaten to see through a tall chase. He got seven stitches later and, you can assume, some advice from the doctor to take it easy. But in the very next game against Kings XI Punjab, he was more authoritative than ever, slamming 113 off 50 balls in a 15-overs-a-side game. He even gestured to his hand soon after hitting the century, as if to say ‘no pain, no gain’.

MIRACLE WORKERS

The ground staff don’t get awards at the end of the match for their tireless performance, but they ought to, especially in the three rain-affected games this week. In the match at Eden Gardens, Kolkata Knight Riders had Rising Pune Supergiants by the throat when the heavens opened up, but fortunately for the hosts, play finally resumed with a shortened game. At ACA-VDCA Stadium, rain was on Pune’s side as they won by D/L against Delhi Daredevils. And despite heavy rain delaying the toss for two hours at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, a 15-overs-a-side game was possible, much to the delight of the Royal Challengers Bangalore team and fans. That each game so far had a result and no points were split was a credit to the ground staff’s commitment and efficiency.

STAR PERFORMANCE

Leading up to the match against his former team Kolkata Knight Riders, Chris Gayle’s contribution was 19 runs in five matches. The ‘Universe Boss’ is allowed a few failures, he explained to the commentators on air after he was mic’d up for the second over of the game. If the 49 off 31 balls, to help Royal Challengers Bangalore seal a nine-wicket win later that night, was anything to go by, he was just being fashionably late.

WORST DISPLAY

Three years ago, David Miller stunned Royal Challengers Bangalore with a 38-ball century. Nowadays, he’s not even able to hit 38, averaging a woeful 17.11 in 13 games this season. Kings XI Punjab have given him a long rope — a noble thought in theory — but after being stripped of the captaincy earlier in the year, it has become more of a noose for Miller, reminding him that he’s living on borrowed time.

BEST SHOT

KL Rahul faced only six balls against Kings XI Punjab, but on the last ball of the innings, he showed how far he’s come in Twenty20 cricket. A full ball from Mohit Sharma was reverse-flicked into the third-man boundary with the nonchalance one would usually associate with AB de Villiers.

BEST QUOTE

“What I sort of remember is me getting hit on the face with a truck. Most of the players were just checking on me and how I was, but a couple of them were disappointed that the helmet hadn’t rolled on to the stumps.” - George Bailey after a Nathan Coulter-Nile delivery took his helmet off in the match against Delhi Daredevils.

KEY GAME

The match between Gujarat Lions and Mumbai Indians on Saturday at Green Park Stadium in Kanpur should be quite the humdinger. The defending champions’s chances of making it to the play-offs could very well hinge on the result, while Gujarat, even if they win against Kolkata, can’t relax as their Net Run Rate is the worst among all the teams still in the running to make it to the top four.

KEY STATISTIC

4 The number of centuries scored by Kohli so far this season. It's already the most number of centuries scored by a single batsman in an edition of the IPL, surpassing Gayle's two centuries in 2011. During the course of his 50-ball 113 against Kings XI Punjab, he became the first player to cross the 4,000-run mark in IPL history.