Week 5 review

 MI get a win finally; KKR wheels coming off? No clear picture emerging yet!

Yet another week has passed with no clear picture yet. The only picture that has emerged from the lot has been that newcomers GT and LSG have almost confirmed their entry into the knockout stages. But the remaining teams are still slugging it out to reach the top.

The week saw PBKS bouncing back from last week's debacle to strangle CSK's chase in the first match of the week. MS could not repeat the heroics of last week as both the target and opponent grew large on them towards the end of their chase. For the Kings, Gabbar continued his incredible batting form against CSK - amassing the maximum runs for a batsman against a particular team. 

PBKS though could not carry that form into their match against LSG later in the week. This time it was PBKS's turn to be choked in the chase as LSG's bowlers tightened the noose in a relatively small chase. In their next match LSG held their nerves to stifle DC's chase making it a successful week for them.

This week saw a decline in the overall runs scored by teams as the pitches at Mumbai and Pune started wearing out. KKR felt the brunt of this as they slid to their 5th straight loss this season losing to DC. Also sharing the same fate was RCB who had a poor outing against RR despite restricting them around the 150 mark. VK's form slump continued into that game as well. Kohli struck form in their next game against GT only to be let down by the rest of the team as GT once again rode on Tewatia heroics to win from a precarious position.

In fact, Tewatia was at the center of two scintillating chases this week as GT got the better of SRH and RCB. Against the former, GT had to overcome a spirited spell from the Jammu express Umran Malik. Umran picked 5 wickets in that game but got little support from the bowlers at the other end. SRH ended up conceding 25 runs off the final over to lose the game to some Rashid Khan pyrotechnics. SRH's misfortune with bowling carried on to their next game against CSK (with a new captain in MSD!!) who sent them on a leather hunt to score over 200 runs. SRH who have a horrible record chasing scores in excess of 180 (1 win in 13) faltered in the chase to cap off the week with 2 losses although their batting fared better in both matches. 

And lastly, MI got their first taste of victory as they chased down RR's below par score. Hitman's form still is a concern for MI but SKY clicked once again. Also exciting was the fact that two relative unknown players in Hrithik Shoukeen and Karthikeya shone in the match - definite India prospects. 

Week 5 performances

Excellent:  GT, LSG

Good: RR, CSK, DC, MI

Fair enough: SRH, PBKS

Mediocre: KKR, RCB

My performance quotient for each team