Weekly Review: Race For The Play-Offs Heats Up

The race to the IPL 7 play-offs has become tense. One more week to go and two teams - Kings XI Punjab and Chennai Super Kings have confirmed their places in the top-four. Only Delhi Daredevils are out of contention with as many as five teams fighting it out for the remaining two spots. Here, gocricket.com takes a look at the top moments from week five.

Simmons leads MI recovery Mumbai Indians have managed to keep their slim hopes of a play-off spot alive with vital wins against two of the top three teams of this season, with Lendl Simmons playing a leading role both times. First they outsmarted Rajasthan Royals at their second home in Motera after reading the surface correctly and including an extra spinner, that eventually made the difference. MI used three spinners compared to RR's lone spinner and won the game by 25 runs to stay in the fray. Simmons scored a brisk 62 in an opening stand of 121, which was Mumbai's best start in 40 matches.
Against Kings XI Punjab on Wednesday, Simmons hit the first century of the season with an unbeaten 100 off 61 balls to lead their chase of 157. If they win their remaining two games and a few other results go their way, MI could qualify for the play-offs of a tournament at the beginning of which they lost five consecutive games.
Seven in a row for DD

At the other end of the spectrum are the Daredevils, who in the past seven days continued their miserable run with two more defeats which extended their losing run to seven in a row. This season they have won only two games - both during the UAE leg of the tournament - meaning they are the only team yet to taste victory in India. The Delhi-based franchise continues to languish at the bottom of the points table and with just two games remaining, have nothing but pride to play for. The closest they came to a win was against KXIP at the Feroz Shah Kotla where the match went into the final over. However, as their legspinner Imran Tahir observed, luck has deserted the team.

Pollard leaves Motera stunned

Against RR at the Sardar Patel Stadium, Kieron Pollard took what could be the catch of the season to dismiss Kevon Cooper. Cooper's back-foot swap appeared set to end up behind the long-on boundary, but suddenly encountered Pollard on its way as the West Indian leapt, caught the ball one-handed, found himself pushed over the ropes due to momentum but somehow kept his balance to throw the ball back in play. Pollard recovered in a flash, then ran in, dived forward and caught the ball - all within a few seconds. It was seriously exhilarating viewing.

Watto gets it wrong

Call it complacency or plain misjudgement on the part of Royals, who made four changes to their line-up against MI in the same match - resting the formidable trio of Pravin Tambe, Ajinkya Rahane and Steven Smith. On a pitch assisting spinners, Mumbai replaced one of their batsmen with an extra spinner in Shreyas Gopal and the unheralded legspinnner, in his first T20 match ever, picked two wickets. Royals had just one specialist spinner in Ankit Sharma whereas MI had three - each of them picking two wickets.

Shining knight

Robin Uthappa has climbed the batting charts to be now placed at No. 2 in the top run-getters list of IPL 7 and his consistency has helped Kolkata Knight Riders to five successive wins. Twice in the past week, against Sunrisers Hyderabad and Chennai Super Kings, they emerged winners thanks largely to Uthappa's solid presence at the top. He scored 40 against SRH and then at Eden Gardens, clobbered 10 boundaries in his 67 to lead another successful chase. Uthappa's 489 runs have been scored at an average 40.75 and a strike rate that touches 134. His consistency has led many to suggest that a return to the national side is imminent.

Burden off Dhawan's shoulders

Just about half an hour before their 11th game of the season, SRH surprised everyone with the appointment of a new captain in Darren Sammy. A poor show with the bat worked against Shikhar Dhawan as the SRH top brass took the 'extra burden' off his shoulders so as to help him focus on his batting. It seems to have worked as Dhawan scored his first fifty of the season against Royal Challengers Bangalore, giving SRH a new lease of life for a final four finish.