The third week of IPL 7 in India was probably more exciting than the previous two weeks in the UAE thanks to some great individual performances and a big run-in between
Kieron Pollard and Mitchell Starc. Here,
gocricket.com chronicles the eye-catching events that unfolded over the course of last week.
Tambe spins magic with first hat-trick this season
At the age of 42,
Rajasthan Royals legspinner Tambe is having the time of his life. Look at his performances in the tournament from day one, he has been nothing short of brilliant. However, this week Tambe took his game to another level and helped RR register a win from an unlikely position against Kolkata Knight Riders in Ahmedabad on May 5. Chasing 171 to win, the Gautam Gambhir-led KKR were cruising at one time at 121 for 0 in 14 overs before RR captain
Shane Watson took three wickets in an over to provide a big opening for his team. However, it was Tambe's hat-trick in the next over that actually put the nail in KKR's coffin. The wickets of Manish Pandey,
Yusuf Pathan and Ryan ten Doeschate broke KKR's back badly and they ended up losing the match by 10 runs. Tambe's performance this season has proved that age has little significance nowadays in cricket and that it's fitness and willingness to do well that shapes a player's career.
de Villiers breaks run-drought in style
It was long coming. AB de Villiers had an ordinary season prior to
Royal Challengers Bangalore's game against
Sunrisers Hyderabad on May 4 and when Virat Kohli's men were reduced to 59 for 4 in 10.1 overs chasing 159 to win, it appeared the match was as good as gone for RCB. Against all odds, de Villiers launched a rearguard action and smashed 89* off 41 balls with the help of six fours and eight sixes to see his side home in the last over. While de Villiers punished all SRH bowlers, his face-off with fellow South African and arguably the greatest bowler in the world at present,
Dale Steyn, will be remembered for many years to come. In the penultimate over of the innings, de Viliers took 24 runs off Steyn, hitting three sixes and a four to turn the match on its head.
Pollard-Starc altercation
The game between
Mumbai Indians and
Royal Challengers Bangalore on May 6 will long be remembered for an ugly altercation between Kieron Pollard and Mitchell Starc. The run-in - towards the end of MI's innings - that saw the West Indian and the Australian almost come to blows, influenced the outcome of the match a great deal as MI took 54 runs off last 20 balls, thanks largely to captain
Rohit Sharma's 59 off 35 balls, to post a mammoth 187 for 5.
The drama began in the 17th over when Starc used some pretty choice language against Pollard after beating him with a bouncer. The West Indian disdainfully signed to Starc to go away, and off the next ball backed away from the crease at the last minute. Starc, instead of stopping himself, followed the West Indian on the legside and almost hit him, leaving a seething Pollard to throw his bat towards the bowler in a menacing way.
However, the West Indian had the last laugh when he took a simple catch at extra cover to send Starc (5) back to the pavilion off the bowling of Lasith Malinga. Not just that, earlier in the match he had also accounted for the dangerous Yuvraj Singh's run out (6) using his footballing skills to great effect.
The IPL Governing Council later on Wednesday fined both Pollard and Starc for breaching its code of conduct.
Maxwell at it once again
Orange Cap holder Glenn Maxwell (435 runs in seven matches) fuelled his legend further smashing 90 off 38 balls in Kings XI Punjab's 44-run win over
Chennai Super Kings on May 7. The Australian put on view the switch-hit several times hitting eight sixes and six fours and it surely was his innings that made the difference. His approach against R Ashwin was particularly impressive. The India offspinner is normally very effective bowling around the wicket, but not against Maxwell on Wednesday evening. The Big Show smashed back-to-back sixes in the 11th over against the India offspinner who looked befuddled not knowing where he should land the ball, bowling two wides to boot. Things changed drastically after Ashwin's over, with KXIP scoring 162 in the last 10 overs to finish on 231 for 4. With the win against MS Dhoni's men, KXIP made it back to the top of the table with six wins in seven matches, while CSK go down to second after their second defeat in eight matches.
Delhi Daredevils' sorry state
Delhi Daredevils took the wooden spoon last season and looking at their performance so far it seems another is on their way. The team under Kevin Pietersen looks absolutely spineless, especially in the bowling department. DD's defeat to Kolkata Knight Riders on May 7 was their sixth in eight matches and the way Pietersen ran himself out tells a great deal about his current state of mind. The former England batsman tapped a Shakib-al-Hasan delivery to offside and ran away for a single straight away, head down and without looking at non-striker batsman
Murali Vijay. Wicketkeeper
Robin Uthapa charged towards the ball, picked it up and ran Pietersen out in a flash with Vijay shaking his head in disbelief at the other end.
Pietersen's captaincy is also under the scanner for repeatedly not bringing the in-form duo of
JP Duminy and Kedar Jadhav up the batting order. Fast bowler Mohammad Shami is another big concern for DD. He is one of the promising bowlers in the country but his performance so far in the tournament is worrying. Four wickets in eight matches at an economy rate of 8.34 don't justify his talent. At present, it's hard to imagine how DD are going to turn their fortunes around.
