Week 4 review

 MI are out; A week that oscillated between close matches and lackluster performances

This must probably have been the week where the tournament must have taken full shape. Right at the middle of the season where teams are expected to have zeroed in on the best combination and teams are expected to have struck the right form to carry them through. But on the contrary, the week has turned out to be the most unpredictable of all. While MI's fate seems to have been sealed already, some of the remaining teams also ran the risk of following MI to the exit door too soon. But just when you thought that was going to happen, the very same teams put up better shows to escape the trap door.

KKR are entering the same rut that has engulfed MI. Even though both their matches were close games, their over dependence on Dre Rus to take them over the line has meant that the finishing touches are not being put in place resulting in close defeats to RR and GT. They need to pull their sock up soon. PBKS also had a poor outing this week and ended up being thrashed by DC's spinners.

As for GT, they are on a roll - Hardik's batting and a collective bowling effort continue to keep them afloat. They seem like potential play-off material and just like RR in the inaugural season they seem like the dark horse.

RR were the form team of the week making two scores of over 200 in both their matches. Yuzi Chahal's magical hattrick trumped KKR while a Butler masterpiece accompanied by an unexplainable act of stupidity from the DC team helped RR prevent DC from claiming an unlikely victory. After all, it is not every day that you see a game where the chasing team needs 36 off the final over and rattles 18 runs off the first 3 balls. Pant & Co. were fined heavily for their intervention during the match but their little intervention in itself was a self-inflicted penalty actually.

DC, LSG and RCB had a mixed week. DC's routing of PBKS was supposed to be a launchpad but indiscretion brought them down against RR. LSG had a week game against RCB only to bounce back against MI - riding on a super century from KL. MI are definitely KL's bunny having already been at the receiving end of a KL century last week.

RCB too had an up and down week as skipper Faf got back his form against LSG. Unfortunately for fans though Kohli continued to bite the dust. Kohli's wretched form rubbed on to the whole team as RCB got walloped by SRH in their next match - dismissed for a partly 68 on the back of another golden duck for VK - incidentally the third time RCB have scored less than 100 on the 23rd of April across seasons!

MSD's resurgence in the game against MI has been the only spark for CSK at the tournament so far. Even if it was for one game, MSD did turn back the clock and sent fans into a dizzy. It was definitely pleasing to watch MSD toy around with the MI thinktank. SRH had the one game this week and it was a perfect game for them - classic bowling display followed by the perfect chase that transformed the NRR into the positive side.

Week 4 performances

Excellent:  SRH, GT, RR, CSK

Good: LSG, DC

Fair enough: RCB, KKR, MI

Mediocre: PBKS

My performance quotient for each team