IPL 2024 Weekly Digest: Biggest hits and flops so far. MI's inconsistent campaign, SRH's failure in chases are some of the flops while Marcus Stoinis and Will Jacks' ton are some of the hits from the last week.
IPL 2024 is nearing its business end and the race for play-offs is getting exciting. The week from April 22 to 28 saw some big chases, while a few brilliant spells of bowling made the headlines. Here’s a look at the biggest hits and flops of IPL 2024 from April 22-28.
Biggest hits from IPL 2024
Sandeep Sharma’s 5/18 against Mumbai
Sandeep Sharma of Rajasthan Royals (RR) was returning from an injury, and he hit the straps right away against Mumbai Indians (MI). After Trent Boult had dismissed Rohit Sharma, Sandeep got into the action straight away. He got Ishan Kishan to edge behind for a three-ball duck to an away going delivery. He then took the prized wicket of Suryakumar Yadav who mistimed a flick on a scrambled seam delivery. The Rajasthan bowler then returned in the death overs to derail Mumbai’s momentum. He took three wickets in the last over to stop Mumbai from finishing with a flourish, restricting the opponents to 179/9. Sandeep ended with 5/18 in 4 overs, bowling 13 dot balls. Although Yashasvi Jaiswal struck a ton, Sandeep walked away with the player of the match honour for his five-wicket haul.
Marcus Stoinis’ 124* against Chennai
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) posted a huge total of 210/4, and soon reduced Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) to 33/2 in 4.4 overs. Marcus Stoinis then played the innings of his life, single-handedly taking Lucknow home with a knock of 124* off 63 balls with 13 fours and 6 sixes. He was ably supported by Nicholas Pooran’s cameo of a 15-ball 34. What was noteworthy of Stoinis’ knock was his text-book style of shots, calmness during the chase and hardly any slog even when the run-rate climbed over 12 runs per over. Stoinis was helped by dew on the field as Chennai bowlers struggled to bowl with a wet ball. But it does not take anything away from a classy innings produced by the Aussie all-rounder.Â
Rishabh Pant’s 88* against GT
Coming from a life-threatening accident, Rishabh Pant put all doubts to rest about his fitness and form when he slammed 88* off 43 balls against Gujarat Titans (GT). What was pleasant to see was that his big hitting was back in full flow. Delhi Capitals (DC) were struggling at 157/4 in 17 overs with Pant batting on 48 of 32 balls. He then accelerated, helping Delhi score 67 runs in the last three overs. Pant scored 40 runs off the last 11 balls he faced, hitting 4 sixes and 1 four in the last over bowled by Mohit Sharma. The big hitting in the death helped Delhi post 224/4. Gujarat ended four runs short of equalling the score.
Bairstow 108* & Shashank Singh 68* against KKR
Chasing a record target of 262 against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Punjab Kings (PBKS) needed someone to step up and lead the chase. Jonny Bairstow of England, who was having a forgettable IPL season so far, rose to the occasion and slammed a memorable T20 ton. He stitched a fifty-plus stand each for the first three wickets, and scored a valiant 108* off 48 balls with 8 fours and 9 sixes to take Punjab to a record chase. Bairstow was helped by Shashank Singh who made a quickfire 28-ball 68* with 2 fours and 8 sixes. In the unbeaten stand of 84 runs for the third wicket, Shashank contributed 68 runs and helped Punjab create history.Â
Jake Fraser-Mcgurk’s 84, Rasikh Salam’s 3/34 vs MI
Aussie youngster Jake Fraser-Mcgurk announced himself in IPL 2024 when he blasted Mumbai’s bowling attack to all parts of the ground. JFM cracked a 27-ball 84 as the Delhi opener and made the best use of the powerplay, cracking 11 fours and 6 sixes. He stitched a stand of 114 runs for the first wicket. He scored the bulk of the runs in that stand as Mumbai were shell-shocked with the lashing from the Aussie cricketer.Â
Later, medium-pacer Rasikh Salam came in as an impact player to take three wickets for 34 runs and stop Mumbai from running away with the game. He dismissed the dangerous Hardik Pandya, who was looking good for a well-made 24-ball 46. Salam also took the wickets of Nehal Wadhera and Mohammed Nabi to help his team win by 10 runs in a high-scoring thriller.Â
Will Jacks’ 100* against GT
The scorecard will show that the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) had an easy win as they chased down Gujarat’s total of 200 with 4 overs and 9 wickets to spare. However, it was Will Jacks’ power-hitting that made the win look so easy. At the end of the 10th over, Jacks was batting at run-a-ball, scoring 16 runs off 16 balls with Virat Kohli batting on 51. Jacks then produced a masterclass in big hitting, scoring 84 runs off the next 25 balls he faced. The 15th and 16th over of RCB’s innings was completely dominated by Jacks who collected 56 runs off 12 balls he faced, hitting 7 sixes and 3 fours. Kohli scored just 1 run in the last 52 runs scored by the duo, showing how Jacks completely dominated the stand before finishing off the chase in a flourish.
Tushar Deshpande’s 4/27 against SRH
Bowling against a power-packed batting line-up of Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) is no easy task. But Tushar Deshpande of Chennai did not only come out of it unscathed but also took four wickets to break the back of the Hyderabad batting unit. A lot of credit goes to the plan set out for each Hyderabad batter, and Deshpande executing it brilliantly. He bowled wide and off to the Hyderabad opening duo of Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma who holed out in the deep to a trap set by the Chennai think-tank. He then dismissed Anmolpreet Singh for a golden duck as SRH were reduced to 40/3 and never recovered from the early setbacks to be bowled out for 134. Deshpande took a fourth in Pat Cummins to return with match figures of 4/27.
Biggest flops from IPL 2024
SRH faltering in chases
Twice in the week of April 22-28, Hyderabad faltered in chases despite boasting an attacking batting line-up that had posted 250-plus scores when batting first three times in IPL 2024 so far. They first failed to chase down 207 against Bengaluru and lost by 35 runs. Next, they were bowled out for 134 chasing 213 against Chennai. In four chases in IPL 2024 so far, SRH have won just one and lost three. And they have successfully defended a score four times out of five. Hyderabad have adopted similar strategy when setting up a total or chasing a target – using an attacking strategy throughout. This has proved to be their doom when chasing as they have lost wickets in a heap in powerplays. They need to find a strategy to fix this.
MI’s inconsistent campaign
Mumbai, the five-time IPL champs, have flattered to deceive so far. The week of April 22-28 was not any different as there were moments when they showed brilliance with bat and ball but in most cases, they were ordinary letting the game drift, losing control of the game. In the clash against Rajasthan, they were ordinary with the bat and ball, losing by nine wickets. In their next clash, they let Delhi score 257/4 but came up with a good fight-back with the bat, falling short by mere 10 runs. It has been the story for Mumbai this season – so near, yet so far.