Although the destination of this years Indian Premier League has changed, we still find the same drama and razmataz attached to the competition. Readers who follow our IPL blog will have also noticed that we have thrown up quite a few well-found predictions in our teams and players to follow summary published last week. So, let us get straight into it and review the action that has taken place so far. The opening game of the tournament was a repeat of last years final although Chennai managed to reverse the script of that final as they narrowly edged out the reigning champions winning by five wickets with only four balls remaining. One of our players to follow stared for the Super Kings as young Sam Curran took a wicket and two catches in the field as well as hitting eighteen from just six balls to help see the Super Kings over the line. If game one was not dramatic enough for you then game two well have certainly got your hearts racing as the match between the Delhi Chargers and the Kings XI went to a super over which the Chargers won convincingly. Marcus Stoinis stared with both bat and ball as he continued his impressive form from the Big Bash League which we highlighted last week. Stoinis took two for twenty-nine with the ball and scored fifty-three from just twenty-one deliveries with the bat. Radaba was also a key figure again highlighted last week as he picked up two wickets for twenty-eight. Royal Challenges Bangalore turned their recent fortunes around and got off to a winning start with a ten-run victory over the Sunrisers Hyderabad. The player of the match went to Yuzvendra Chahal who picked up three wickets and only conceded eighteen runs from his four overs bowled. Both Devdutt Padikkal and AB De Villiers managed half century scores with the bat. Unfortunately, it was the same old story for the Sunrisers as Johny Bairstow set them on their way with a score of sixty-one, but the middle order contributed very little which saw them fail in their run chase. Chennai returned in game four looking to build on their opening game victory over the reigning champions but came up short against the Rajastan Royals in what was the highest scoring game of the season so far. The Royals posted an impressive total of two hundred and sixteen runs despite our man Sam Curran once again delivering with figures of three for thirty-three runs. Sanju Samson stared for the Royals with an impressive seventy-four run haul from just thirty-two deliveries and he was backed up by Steve Smith who also managed sixty-nine runs. Despite Faf du Plessis fine seventy-two it was not enough for the Super Kings. Game five saw the Mumbai Indians return to winning ways as they smashed the Kolkata Knight Riders by forty-nine runs. Rohit Sharma was the key figure for the Indians as he led the way by scoring eighty runs with the bat. The Kolkata Knight Riders failed to make a dent with the bat as Pat Cummins high scored with a messily thirty-three runs. Looking ahead to this weekends games we start with a game that saw both teams involved lose their opening games making this a pressure must win game so early on in the season as the Knight Riders take on the Sunrisers. Both of these sides failed with the bat in their opening game defeats as the Sunrisers will hope that reinstated captain David Warner can improve on his total of six runs in the first game and the Knight Riders will be looking for anyone to step up with the bat, especially key figures such as Eoin Morgan and Andre Russell. The second game of the weekend sees the Rajastan Royals take on the Kings XI Punjab. The Royals will be looking for a repeat performance after a very impressive win against Chennai last time out and the Kings XI will know that they probably just need to make a few adjustments following their narrow super over defeat to Delhi. They will also be encouraged by the fact that they have beaten the Royals in the last two encounters between the two sides. As we roll into next week the opening game of the week will be between the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Mumbai Indians (20/31). Despite recent woes in seasons gone by the Royal Challengers got off to a winning start but they come up against the reigning champions who have beaten them on four of the past five occasions although in saying that Lasith Malinga has played a big part in those victories as he took four wickets in their last encounter and as mentioned in our IPL team summary last week he is missing this year for the Indians. The round of fixtures concludes as the Delhi Chargers face the Sun Risers Hyderabad who play their second game in short succession. Delhi have won the last two head to head matches between the sides but if their last match is anything to go by then it could be a closely contested affair as they edged a nail biting game with one ball to spare. It seems to be a feature for Delhi recently winning tightly contested matches which you would hope would help them in pressure situations come the end of the season.
IPL is off to a Blast
