STATS HIGHLIGHTS
Follow UsIt was a doubleheader Thursday, the first match in Delhi and the second in Ahmedabad. Mumbai Indians were up against Rajasthan Royals in the first fixture and it was a comprehensive win for the defending champs. They won by seven wickets and nine balls to spare chasing 172.
In the second game as well, it was a cakewalk for the team chasing. After Kolkata Knight Riders were put in to bat, they crawled to 154. In reply, a century opening stand laid the perfect platform for a demoralizing defeat for Kolkata. With a seven-wicket win, Delhi moved up a spot in the table and pushed Bangalore to third.
Finally, RR openers play out the Powerplay
In the whole of IPL 2020, Rajasthan openers weren’t able to play out the Powerplay. They had lost a wicket at least in every match in the first six overs. Prior to the 2020 IPL, in the last seven matches as well they suffered this fate. In total, prior to today, Rajasthan had played 21 consecutive matches by losing a wicket at least in this phase. The opening pair of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Jos Buttler broke the streak when they played out the Powerplay against Mumbai.
A triplet of scores
How often is it to see the same first innings totals in succession and that too for three consecutive times. In the 22nd match between Bangalore and Delhi, Virat Kohli led Bangalore scored 171/5 in Ahmedabad. In the 23rd between Hyderabad and Chennai, Hyderabad posted the same total for the loss of three wickets. In today’s match between Mumbai and Rajasthan, Rajasthan posted 171 for the loss of four wickets. This was the first ever instance of teams posting the same first innings score in three successive innings.
The duck tales of Kolkata batsmen
In every department, Kolkata needs to make improvements and it has to be a very quick turn-around. Firstly, their batsmen need to get off the mark. In this season of IPL, there have been 10 ducks from their batsmen. Their skipper Eoin Morgan, is leading with two ducks, a zero ball duck and a one ball duck. Eight different batsmen have a duck. The 10 ducks bagged by their batsmen is the most for a team this season.
Fastest to 6000 runs
Celebrating his 33rd birthday, Andre Russell got one fruitful gift while he was batting. Though his innings today was uncharacteristic, with a double in the 16th over, he reached 6000 T20 runs. He reached the landmark in his 305th innings, the second most innings taken by a batsmen, understandable as he bats low down. However, he is known for his big hitting skills and that is the reason why Russell became the fastest to the milestone in terms of balls. He reached there in 3550 balls, which is 335 balls quicker than Glenn Maxwell.
Caught in front too often
Dinesh Karthik is one of those players who is considered to have a good technique while batting. But, he gets struck in front a lot too often. In tonight’s game he was dismissed through an LBW for the 17th time. No other batsman has been dismissed through this mode as many times as him in IPL. He was tied with Brendon McCullum who had 16 dismissals through this mode. He went past him in the match against Delhi.
A ghastly start
While defending 155, all it requires is a good start from the bowlers. But, for Shivam Mavi, it turned out to be an ephialtes. Starting off with a wayward one down leg, he conceded a boundary of his first legal delivery. Later on, the boundary count didn’t stop till the first over was done. Mavi started off with a 25-run over, the third most a bowler has conceded in the first over of the innings. On the other hand, he became the first bowler to concede six boundaries. In the first over.
First batsmen to smash six fours in the first over
In his match against Sunrisers, Prithvi Shaw teed off with three boundaries in the first three balls of the innings. In tonight’s match, he went a step further and scored boundaries of all the deliveries. He became the second batsman in IPL after Ajinkya Rahane in 2012, to hit fours in all the deliveries of an over. Nevertheless, Prithvi is the first batsman in IPL to achieve this in the first over of the innings. Which is why, he has the most runs for a batsmen in the first over.
Fastest half-century of this season
After his feat in the first over, Prithvi looked like he would smash the fastest half-century of IPL. However, the bowlers were able to produce dot balls here and there. Hence, Prithvi reached the milestone in 18 deliveries, which is the fastest of this season. Previously, Deepak Hooda had reached the landmark in 20 balls against Rajasthan. His fifty of 18-balls is also the joint-second fastest ever in IPL for Delhi.
