Biggest hits and flops of IPL 2024 so far. RCB's batting and bowling failures, Delhi's death over bowling are some of the flops while Jos Buttler's hundred in chase, Shepherd's blitzkrieg inning are some of the hits from the last week.
Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 is living up to its high expectations, and April 1-7 gave us some thrilling chases, extra-ordinary hitting of the ball, and also, a few brilliant bowling spells. Here is a look at the hits and flops of IPL 2024 between April 1 and 7.
Biggest hits in IPL 2024 between April 1-7
Shashank Singh’s 61 not out against Gujarat Titans
Every year, IPL unearths young talented players, but this time, IPL 2024 has brought to the fore a 32-year-old Shashank Singh despite having gone unsold in the auction. Shashank, the Punjab Kings (PBKS) player, was reportedly bid after being mistaken for another player of the same name in the auction. However, the franchise claimed it was the 32-year-old Shashank they were targeting in the auction.
Nevertheless, he silenced everyone with a once-in-a-lifetime knock of 61 not out against Gujarat Titans (GT) as he won the match for Punjab from the brink of defeat. He certainly was the hero of the week as he smashed a few sixes against the quality bowling attack of Titans comprising Rashid Khan, Umesh Yadav, Mohit Sharma, and Noor Ahmad. But the task begins now for Shashank to live up to the high expectations.
Jos Buttler’s 100 not out against RCB
Rajasthan Royals’ (RR) Jos Buttler had a series of low scores until he came across a below-par bowling attack of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and made a mincemeat of it. He hardly broke a sweat as he raced to 100 not out off 58 balls with 9 fours and 4 sixes. He was hardly threatened by the RCB attack as he went about his business of scoring runs and shutting the opposition out.
Although Buttler was not at his mercurial best, he still packed enough power to destroy the RCB bowling attack. He also overshadowed a brilliant ton made by Virat Kohli during RCB innings as Buttler took the game away with his calculated assault.
Read More: IPL 2024, RR vs RCB: Buttler, Samson shoulder successful chase for RR; Kohli's ton goes in vain
Romario Shepherd’s 10-ball 39*
Defending any total at the Wankhede is a nightmare for any bowling attack. And when Mumbai Indians (MI) stuttered to 200 by the 19th over, Delhi Capitals (DC) were still in the game. But a certain Romario Shepherd took the game away from Delhi with an unbelievable assault in the 20th over that left the opposition and their bowler Anrich Nortje shell-shocked.
Shepherd smacked 32 runs in the last over, with the sequence of boundaries reading 4, 6, 6, 6, 4, 6. All the sixes were hit with such brute power that the ball disappeared into the stands within seconds. Shepherd’s second six of the over was a class on clean hitting. He moved across stumps and flicked a ball onto the middle-stump line soaring into the square leg boundary. Even the two fours he smashed straight past the bowler were hit with utter disdain. The knock made the difference in the result as Mumbai posted their first win of the tournament.
Read More: IPL 2024, MI vs DC: Shepherd & David's late overs blast trumps Stubbs' brave 71*; MI win first game
Mayank Yadav's 3/14 vs RCB
Mayank Yadav has been the find of the season so far. He is clocking speed over 150 km/hr regularly. But he is not just about speed. Mayank has good control over his line and length. RCB were at the receiving end of Mayank’s brilliance in the past week as he took three wickets for just 14 runs to run away with the second Player of the Match award in two games.
Mayank’s pace was just too hot to handle for RCB batters. Aussie batter Glenn Maxwell could just mistime his hit as the pace did the better of him, while Cameron Green could not even put bat to ball as a speeding delivery rattled the stumps.
Sunil Narine’s 85 vs DC
It is a treat to watch Sunil Narine bat as the West Indian gives no respect to the opposition or the bowler’s reputation as he smacks good deliveries for maximums. His 85-run knock against Delhi Capitals (DC) was one such knock where he threw caution to the wind, and unleashed his big shots all across the ground. His pulls of good-length deliveries, his backfoot punches to over-the-rise deliveries, and the lofted shots would make any bowler tear his hair down as good balls are smacked for fours and sixes with ease.
The best part about Narine’s knock is that he bats with such clarity – smacks, pulls, cuts and smashes with the lone agenda of scoring runs at a brisk pace to put his team ahead. And Narine did the same during his 85-run knock, laced with 7 fours and 7 sixes, off just 39 balls. His selfless batting makes him one of the biggest hits of the last week.
Read More: Biggest hits and flops of IPL 2024 so far
Biggest flops in IPL 2024 between April 1-7
RCB’s batting, except Kohli, and bowling failures
Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s bowling was understandably below par even before the IPL 2024 started. They lacked experienced and quality bowlers, especially in the spin department. Letting go of a few quality spinners and some poor shopping in the auction left RCB with no choice but to rely on uncapped India spinners for the job. And they were easy meat for opposition batters.
But now, their batting is having a collective failure, with the sole exception of Virat Kohli who is leading the unit single-handedly on his shoulders. While Kohli is the highest run-getter in IPL 2024 so far, it has not yielded results in their favour as they have won just 1 out of five games so far. Their batting superstars in Faf du Plessis, Glenn Maxwell, and Rajat Patidar have failed to fire in unison.
DC’s death bowling
Delhi Capitals looked lost in the tournament with some poor bowling displays in the competition so far. Their bowling has lacked penetration. Twice they have conceded a total of 230 plus in the two games between April 1 and 7.
They have had Mumbai's innings under control for the better part of the match, but their poor death bowling spoiled the party. DC conceded 35 runs in the 20th over to lose the plot completely, with Shepherd doing all the damage, hitting 4 sixes and 2 fours in the last over. In the match against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), their bowling attack was carted to all parts of the ground as they conceded 272/7, including 18 sixes.
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