IPL 2022: Week two in review

The second week of action in IPL 2022 threw up some thrilling matches and some high-scoring once, as well as some eye-popping tactics and innings. Here’s a recap of the major talking points from April 4-10.

SHAHBAZ & KARTHIK STAR IN CLASSIC IPL TUSSLE

Rajasthan Royals will wonder how they let this one slip. On a sluggish Wankhede Stadium surface on which stroke-making proved difficult for three quarters of the match, it needed an unbeaten 70 from Jos Buttler – who was coming off a rollicking 100 – which spanned a full 20 overs to get Rajasthan to 169 against Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Then, chasing 170, RCB were gifted an opening stand of 55 before the master spinner they surprisingly let go before the auction, Yuzvendra Chahal, dismissed Faf du Plessis. That wicket triggered a collapse of four wickets for seven runs with Anuj Rawat, Virat Kohli and David Willey exiting to leave RCB at 62/4.

Luckily for them, RCB had Dinesh Karthik still to bat. The experienced finisher brought all his skills to the pitch and along with Shahbaz Ahmed put on an excellent stand worth 67 to take RCB to a four-wicket victory with five balls to spare. What made this rearguard partnership from 87/5 so stunning to watch was that it came after the damage inflicted by Chahal and saw Shahbaz and Karthik tear into R Ashwin, Trent Boult and Navdeep Saini at the backend of the chase.

Karthik’s calming presence has been much valued across several IPL franchises down the years, as well as for Tamil Nadu in domestic cricket and with the Indian team, most famously in that final over of the Nidahas Trophy in 2018, and the manner in which he smacked Ashwin for three fours and a six in a game-sealing 21-run over was to appreciate his worth in such crunch situations. Shahbaz was not to be left behind and hit three sixes in his unbeaten 45 from 26 balls, perfectly complimenting Karthik’s 23-ball 44*. Their stand of 67 spanned just 5.2 overs.

CUMMINS GOES BERSERK ON ARRIVAL

After bowling himself flat in a nearly superhuman effort across three Test matches on lifeless Pakistan surfaces, Australia’s Test captain Pat Cummins slotted back into Kolkata Knight Riders’ lineup for their fourth match and proceeded to smash the joint-fastest half-century of the IPL, off just 14 deliveries.

After taking two wickets in a rather expensive four overs, Cummins found himself needing to bat on return to KKR’s XI with the score 101/5 in 13.1 overs. With the opener Venkatesh Iyer in anchor mode, Cummins started to tee off against Mumbai Indians’ bowler and finished with 56* off 15 balls, with six sixes and four fours, at an astonishing strike-rate of 373.33 to take KKR to a five-wicket victory.

His Australian counterpart Daniel Sams bore the brunt of Cummins’ assault, going for 35 runs in one over which took KKR to their victory target of 162 with 24 deliveries to spare. Cummins clubbed Sams for 6, 4, 6, 6, 2 (no-ball), 4, 6 in a tremendous over that saw him equal the all-time IPL record for fastest fifty. “I think I’m probably the most surprised bloke here,” he laughed after his stunning innings.

WARNER’S DELHI RETURNS STARTS LIMP, BUT HE MAKES UP SOON

Plenty has been speculated about David Warner’s exit from Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2021, and when he went to Delhi Capitals for Rs 6.25 crore at this year’s IPL player auction it seemed a steal deal for someone with this much experience. Warner’s return to the Delhi franchise, nine years since he last played for the erstwhile Daredevils, was a damp squib, but he set about resurrecting his form in the franchise’s second match.

The 35-year-old Australian batsman – the fifth-highest scorer in the history of the IPL – slotted in as opener alongside Prithvi Shaw after landing in India from Pakistan and his recent poor run was extended. While the younger Shaw blazed 61 out of an opening stand of 67, following Lucknow Super Giants’ decision to field at the DY Patil Stadium, Warner was left to score four runs from 12 deliveries.

At the time of Shaw’s dismissal after a 34-ball powerful innings, Warner was 4 off 11 and looking utterly clueless. At one stage, having just patted back a full ball from left-arm spinner Krunal Pandya, Warner threw back his head and roared in disgust. He was soon put out of his misery, when the legspinner Ravi Bishnoi dismissed him for the third time in the space of six balls in T20 cricket.

Delhi managed to get to 149/3 but that proved insufficient against LSG who, powered by Quinton de Kock’s 80 off 52 balls, chasing it down with six wickets remaining for their third win in a row.

But two days later when Delhi met KKR at the Brabourne Stadium, Warner cracked 61 from 45 balls while putting on a stand worth 91 in 52 deliveries with Shaw (51 off 29). The innings lost a bit of steam after the openers were dismissed, but a late flourish helped Delhi end on 215/5. That was well out of KKR’s reach, with Kuldeep Yadav claiming four wickets in a 44-run win that put Delhi at sixth on the points table.

TEWATIA HITS 6, 6 OFF LAST TWO BALLS

Gujarat Titans are unbeaten in the tournament, and vital to two of their nervous chases has been Rahul Tewatia with his clinical late-overs hitting. In the franchise’s first IPL match ever, Tewatia combined with South African David Miller to fashion a match-shifting partnership during a chase of 159 and ensured he finished the job with 40* off 25 balls, getting Gujarat across the line with two balls to spare.

What he proceeded to then do in the final over versus Punjab Kings, when Gujarat’s target was 190, was surreal. When Odean Smith conceded an overthrow off the fourth ball of the final over, it left Gujarat needing 12 off two balls. Staying in his crease, Tewatia cleared his back leg both times to heave sixes off those two deliveries – both over the deep midwicket region – to take Gujarat to a six-wicket win. That gave him 13 runs off the three balls he’d faced in the innings, and Titans their third win in a row.

“There was nothing to think (about), just go there and hit sixes. The last ball was off the middle of the bat, and I knew it was a six,” said Tewatia, who in a franchise with four world-class match-winners has proven a very vital cog in the first two weeks of IPL 2022.

ASHWIN’S ‘RETIRING’ TACTIC MAKES NEWS DURING THRILLER

In the final match of the week, played between Rajasthan and Lucknow in Mumbai, R Ashwin became the first player in the IPL to ever willingly retire his innings. The decision from Ashwin came during the 19^th over of Rajasthan’s innings, when on 28 off 22 balls, the allrounder walked off from the pitch with 10 deliveries left.

This move, rare but perfectly legal, was followed by Riyan Parag marking guard and then hitting eight off four balls to help Rajasthan to 165/6 in their 20 overs. Rajasthan’s head coach, Kumar Sangakkara, later revealed that the management had been part of the decision. Ashwin had been promoted up the order following the loss of four wickets in Royal’s first ten overs and he added 68 with Shimron Hetmyer before deciding to allow a younger and bigger hitter in Parag to finish the innings. In the end, Rajasthan beat Lucknow by three runs with Trent Boult and Yuzvendra Chahal once more proving why this franchise has the best bowling attack in IPL 2022.