IPL 2017: Half-time report

For once, Mumbai aren’t depending incessantly on Rohit with the bat and Lasith Malinga with the ball this season. If anything they racked up a streak of six wins despite their talismans not coming to the party. Despite the slip-up in their last game against Pune, Rohit’s return to form at this stage of the tournament is an ominous sign for every other team. Mitchell McClenaghan has taken up the lead pacer role manfully and already has 12 scalps. Mumbai, who are incredibly difficult to beat at the Wankhede, have only two games left at home and will spend most of May on the road. Two wins will be enough though to see them through to the playoffs. But having dominated the first half of the season, they will be very disappointed with anything but a top-two finish.

2. KKR: Ace of Pace

Kolkata Knight Riders forced RCB into the lowest IPL score ever. (Source: PTI)

Statistics and league tables sometimes revel in aridity. However — and it’s no disrespect to Mumbai who are brilliantly consistent — Kolkata look the best team in this tournament while also being the most exciting of the lot. They are playing an adventurous brand of cricket; from pinch-hitting openers to searing pace in their fast bowling department.

In 2011, after Gautam Gambhir took charge of the team, the franchise decided to make the team the real star, snubbing hero-worshipping. Success ensued. They have always been smart at the auctions and this year’s player-buying was a case in point. For the previous six years, spin had been Kolkata’s real strength at fortress Eden. The re-laid pitches at the venue, however, became fast and bouncy. So Kolkata loaded their squad with fast bowlers this term. They brought in Trent Boult and Chris Woakes, but Nathan Coulter-Nile’s inclusion is proving to be the real masterstroke. The Aussie didn’t play the first four matches, but has now taken eight wickets in three games. Last year, Coulter-Nile had three scalps in four matches for Delhi Daredevils and was eventually released. Kolkata gave him a contract with a clear brief to bend his back. Coulter-Nile’s pace and bounce, and also swing upfront, humbled the famed Bangalore Royal Challengers batting at Eden. And as the bowler worked up serious pace, Gambhir went right under the batsmen’s nose at silly point. It helps, when a team is led by someone who can intimidate the opposition with his captaincy.

Sending Chris Lynn as an opener in the first game also spoke about the team’s fearlessness. Given that Gambhir’s batting is pretty conventional, some fireworks were needed at the top to make full use of the Powerplays. When Lynn got injured, Sunil Narine got a surprise promotion. The makeshift opener is now going at a strike rate of 189.06.

3. SRH: Lacking Fizz

SRH have relief heavily on David Warner for runs. (Source: PTI)

The defending champions seemed to have all bases covered when the tournament started. More importantly, they looked like a side equally comfortable batting first and chasing. But chinks in their armour have started to appear. For one, the batting seems overly dependent on skipper David Warner as Indian stars Shikhar Dhawan and Yuvraj Singh have not delivered on a consistent basis. This prompted the inclusion of the classy Kane Williamson in the playing XI. They have not managed a win away from home yet, which could prove crucial in the final analysis.

Their bowling is one of the strongest in the competition with the impressive Bhuvneshwar Kumar the leader of the pack. Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan bamboozled batsmen in the first few matches, but if the opposition teams get a proper read on his googlies and sliders, SRH will have a problem on their hands. Their overseas all-rounders — Moises Henriques and Ben Cutting — don’t evoke a great deal of confidence, specially with the ball. Mustafizur Rahman, has mostly sat out. There may be scope to get Chris Jordan in the playing XI. Warner’s men are placed third on the points table at the moment and should make it to the playoffs, but their support cast needs to come to the party if they are to successfully defend their crown.

4. RPS: Giant wakes up

Supergiant have had to literally come back from the brink for each of their four wins this season. That they have gotten over the line —thrice in three games at this point — is a significant difference to their disappointing debut season last year. ‘So near, yet so agonizingly far’ was the theme of their 2016 campaign, and thanks to some smart selections and ingenious leadership from Steve Smith aided by MS Dhoni, Supergiant find themselves with a realistic chance of making the playoffs, which in itself is an El Dorado of sorts for Pune-based franchises in the IPL.

By far, Pune have the most evenly distributed schedule — a spate of back-to-back fixtures bookended by lengthy breaks, five days can seem like an eternity in the IPL world. They made the most of their first sabbatical — with Smith even affording himself a trip to Dubai — with two excellent wins over tough rivals. Their batting still remains inconsistent, however, with Ajinkya Rahane yet to find his touch and Dhoni still to come into his own despite a match-winning knock against Sunrisers. Rahul Tripathi has provided electric starts to enable captain Smith to steady the innings. The fast bowlers’ have had mixed days and more often than not it’s Imran Tahir who’s had to plug holes and create some too in the opposition batting line-up. Pune have three home games on the bounce leading into May. And considering their inconsistencies with bat and ball, their best chance would be to get to seven wins and then look to pick up a win or two in their away campaign to secure a playoff berth.

5. KXIP: Unlikely saviours

Hashim Amla is not your archetypal T20 batsman — the muscular, ruthless boundary-spewers, like teammates David Miller and Glenn Maxwell. But Amla has been, by a substantial margin, Punjab’s chief enforcer with a sublime hundred and a brace of half-centuries, all at a pace comparable to the finest in the business. So Punjab, has, at the same time, someone who is a rare amalgam of style, substance and stability. This, in turn, can make Maxwell and Miller all the more a dangerous pair, given the assurance Amla provides at the top. The Australian, indeed, has been explosive, while the South Africa is slowly rekindling his wonted hitting ability. As encouraging has been Manan Vohra, whose valiant but futile 95, is easily one of the finest knocks of this edition.

If they can fire in unison, and Wriddhiman Saha too can reproduce his characteristic enterprise, they can be a dreaded batting unit, capable of dismantling any target or racking up steep totals, which they should given their bowling unit that looks steadier than spectacular. But of late, they have spat promising signs, especially Axar Patel. The Gujarat all-rounder has lost his place in the national side and had a middling domestic season, but has chipped in with useful performances with the ball as well as the wall. The cameo against Gujarat was vital and his bowling looks sharper than ever.

6. RCB: Bang to whimper

Virat Kohli and other big guns in RCB have failed to score. (Source: BCCI)

Royal Challengers Bangalore have always been a sharp contrast to Kolkata’s philosophy towards success. This franchise thrives in their galacticos — Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Chris Gayle and Shane Watson. In 20-over cricket, usually it takes just one of them to fire and take the game away from the opposition. But the downside is that when the superstars collectively fail, the team loses its resolve. This has been happening to Bangalore this season, forcing them to languish in the wrong half of the table with five points. The washout at the Chinnaswamy on Tuesday means, the three-time finalists may have to win all their remaining six matches to reach the playoffs.

Kohli’s absence in the first three games due to a shoulder injury hurt Bangalore. The team became a little rudderless. Kohli has scored two half-centuries on his return alright, but he is still far from his imperious form last year, when he hammered four centuries and seven half-tons in 16 matches. Troubled by back pain, de Villiers doesn’t seem his usual self. And Gayle has now become a luxury, because of his inconsistency. The big Jamaican had laboured last year as well, with 227 runs from 10 matches. And a tally of 144 runs in five matches this term suggests a decline, his 77-run blitz against Gujarat Lions notwithstanding. The challenge for Bangalore in the second half of the tournament will be to make the whole greater than the sum of its parts, a la Kolkata. But given their overdependence on individual brilliance, they are more likely to search for that elusive x-factor.

7. DD: Fast, unsteady

Every year after the auction, Delhi’s long-suffering fans hope this would be the season when the Daredevils will finally make a mark – only to be left crestfallen for the umpteenth time. After initial promise, the team again finds itself in the wrong half of the table after six matches. And once again, the team management (including mentor Rahul Dravid) will have to accept blame for the situation. The team is placed sixth right now, and lack of batting depth is a big reason. They have packed their side with so much fast bowling talent, but have not ensured that they have enough runs to play with. Their batting mainstays from last season – Quinton de Kock and JP Duminy – pulled out before the tournament, but instead of possibly going for the likes of Alex Hales, Marlon Samuels or Ross Taylor, they went for veteran Aussie pacer Ben Hilfenhaus who is yet to get a game till date.

The result of the management blooper is there for all to see. Time and again, the team has been let down by its shaky top order. The likes of Sanju Samson, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Aditya Tare and Sam Billings have not developed the required consistency yet. Dravid & Co. cannot rely on the all-round prowess of Chris Morris, Kagiso Rabada and Corey Anderson to bail them all the time. As things stand, the bowlers have to restrict the opposition as well as get most of the runs. Another season out of the playoffs seems likely.

8. GL: Muddled thinking

Entering the season, Gujarat Lions’ biggest concern was their skipper Suresh Raina, who seemed woefully out of shape and was returning from a lengthy layoff. While the skipper has largely muted his critics — his 84 against Kolkata the brightest spot so far — his side has been but a pale impression of the hard-as-nails competitors they were last season.

Their biggest worry, surprisingly, has been their batting. A batting firm comprising Brendon McCullum, Dwayne Smith, Dinesh Karthik and Aaron Finch looks sorted and settled, but they have looked grossly out of depth. The predicament, primarily, stems from the uncertainty as where to slot in which batsman. In the first couple of matches, they opened with Brendon McCullum and Jason Roy, after which Smith, with whom McCullum has stitched several match-winning alliances for Chennai Super Kings, displaced him.

Rightly so. They began emphatically, pasting Rising Pune Supergiant for 94 runs, but successive failures instigated another tweak, as Finch began to partner McCullum. This has, in turn, escalated into a bigger headache. The Australian has been scratchy while Smith has been largely ineffective batting down the order. Finch can’t be shoved down the order too, as he has the tendency to eat up a lot of dot balls early in his innings. Consequently, they have over-relied on McCullum, Raina and Karthik.

Another setback has been Ravindra Jadeja’s ineffectiveness. Coming after a lengthy home spell of Test matches, Jadeja has looked jaded, his bowling lacking the trademark snap. They have missed his control too, with their bunch of seamers a touch wayward.