CricViz analyst Rufus Bullough looks at the standout performers from the week, and picks a team based on their Match Impact scores.
1. Shikhar Dhawan
Impact – Batting: +28.1, Fielding: +0.7 – Total: +28.8
Matches: 2 – Runs: 112 at 10.02 rpo
Unsurprisingly Shikhar Dhawan comes in at the top of the order for consecutive weeks. The left-hander built on his fabulous efforts last week by starting this gameweek with a second century of the tournament against Kings XI, the first man in IPL history to hit back-to-back centuries. His 106* (61) included 12 fours and 3 sixes, netting him an impact of +36.4, the highest individual batting score for the week, and the seventh best for the tournament so far. With three games to go, Delhi have 14 points, and look certain to make the play-offs. With Mumbai faltering last night against Rajasthan, the top spot is still in reach for Shreyes Iyer and his side.
2. Nitish Rana
Impact – Batting: +17.6 – Total: +17.6
Matches: 2 – Runs: 81 at 9.00 rpo
Kolkata pulled off an unexpectedly dominant performance against league leaders Delhi capitals, which was masterminded in part by 81 runs from 53 deliveries from Nitish Rana. This was Rana’s highest score of the tournament to date, which earned him an Impact of +26.8, taking him back into a net positive score for the tournament as a whole. KKR currently sit in fourth, clinging on to a play-off spot. Their game today against a Kings XI side basking in impeccable winning form, looking to make it five wins on-the-trott will surely be a fascinating one to watch.
3. Ishan Kishan
Impact – Batting: +17.9 – Total: +17.9
Matches: 2 – Runs: 105 at 8.63 rpo
After a blistering start out of the blocks, the handbrake had been well and truly applied to Kishan, putting a stop to any momentum he had been building. After a string of scores with negative impact rating, he finally found form again opening the batting with Quinton de Kock against Chennai Super Kings. His unbeaten knock of 68 from 37 deliveries featured 30% boundaries, which is his highest boundary proportion of any of his tournament innings so far. He also registered an impact of +28.4 for this innings, which eclipsed his +24.3 Impact rating for his breakthrough knock of the season, in which he came one run short of a debut IPL century at Sharjah. With Mumbai almost guaranteed to progress into the play-offs, Kishan will have plenty more opportunity to showcase his talents in the remaining matches.
4. Manesh Pandey
Impact – Batting: +22.1, Fielding: +1.3 – Total: +23.4
Matches: 2 – Runs 98 at 7.73 rpo, Catches: 1
Before Manesh Pandey’s game-winning unbeaten knock of 83 from 47 balls, he had been meandering along to relative obscurity in the context of this tournament. He hadn’t been terrible, but he had also neither been brilliant, with most Sunrisers fans letting out collective groans of indifference when he strides to the crease. But that was all set to change, and change quickly. Before this innings, he had a net negative batting Impact for the tournament, despite scoring two fifties along the way. Multiple single-figure scores, and less than a run-a-ball innings had been bogging his Impact down from flourishing, until now. This fabulously unexpected, match-winning knock against Rajasthan introduced a new Manesh Pandey to the world, one who is far more exciting than the player we had seen previously in this tournament. This knock secured him an Impact rating of +30.8, the third highest Impact innings of the tournament. A failure in his next outing against a resurgent Kings XI was not enough to carry on the Sunrisers momentum and they find themselves near the foot of the table, needing a perfect run-in to have any hope of making the final four.
5. Sanju Samson
Impact – Batting: +2.5, Fielding: -1.8 – Total: -0.7
Matches: 3 – Runs: 90 at 9.00 rpo, Catches: 1, Dropped catches: 1
It was a toss up between Sanju Samson and KL Rahul for this week’s wicket-keeping spot, with Samson just edging it. His well controlled innings in support of Ben Stokes’ unbeaten hundred last night has kept Rajasthan’s slim play-off qualification hopes alive and earned him an Impact rating of +9.1. His 54*(31) combined clever field manipulation with brutal, elegant stroke play and his 152 run unbeaten partnership with Stokes has been one of the most impressive of the tournament so far.
6. Hardik Pandya
Impact – Batting: +22.6, Fielding: -5.1 – Total: +17.6
Matches: 1 – Runs 60 at 17.14 rpo, Dropped catches: 1
One innings, comprising just 21 deliveries, was enough to book Hardik Pandya a place in this week’s side. He was in impeccable ball striking form, muscling 43% of his deliveries faced to the boundary, finishing with 60 runs, and a scoring rate of 17.14 runs per over. This destructive display of boundary hitting against the Rajasthan attack was not enough to secure a win for Mumbai, but secured Hardik a batting Impact of +22.6, and the final batting spot in the TOTW.
7. Sam Curran
Impact – Batting: +23.6, Bowling: +12.6, Fielding: -2.7 – Total: +33.4
Matches: 2 – Runs: 74 at 6.16 rpo, Wickets: 3 at 6.25 rpo
Sam Curran has been the breakthrough positive of the tournament for Chennai, for whom it is now mathematically impossible to qualify for the play-offs, for the first time in their well decorated IPL history. Curran had an excellent week with both bat and ball, registering positive Impacts for both disciplines, but his standout performance came with the bat against Mumbai Indians. If your number 8 batsman walks to the crease during the Powerplay, you can be fairly sure that your side is in a spot of bother. After Jadeja was dismissed in the sixth over with the score on 5-21, Sam Curran played within himself, displaying a knock of great maturity. When he was eventually clean bowled by Trent Boult on the last ball of the innings, he had shepherded Chennai up to a reasonably competitive total of 114-9. It was always going to be a tough ask to defend that score, especially with the red-hot Mumbai batting line up coming to play on the postage stamp of a ground that is Sharjah. Despite their eventual 10 wicket loss, Curran should be happy he showcased this more measured and mature side of his batting to the world, which now knows of his talents in many different roles. His Impact rating for this innings was +27.8, which is by far his most impactful effort with bat or ball for Chennai this season, and his second best knock, in terms of Impact rating, of his T20 career to date.
8. Jofra Archer
Impact – Batting: +4.5, Bowling: +45.7, Fielding: +1.8 – Total: +52.0
Matches: 2 – Runs: 16 at 13.71 rpo, Wickets: 5 at 6.00 rpo, Catches: 1, Dropped catches: 1
Jofra is back for his fourth appearance in the TOTW after a brief hiatus from last week’s team. This time, he takes top spot for the first time, and is this week’s most valuable player for his total Impact rating of +52.0. His standout performance was against Sunrisers Hyderabad where he removed both David Warner, and Jonny Bairstow in quick succession, earning him figures of 2 for 21, and a total bowling Impact of +22.3, his highest innings rating of the tournament. Jofra has only registered a negative bowling Impact in one of his matches this season, and will be hoping to keep it that way, as he tries almost single-handedly to propel the Royals into an unlikely play-off spot. Jofra is the only Rajasthan seam bowler to register a positive average Impact this season. His average of +10.1 is worlds away from the next best average rating, which belongs to Karthik Tyagi (-4.3)
9. Rashid Khan
Impact – Batting: -2.2, Bowling: +27.2, Fielding: -0.8 – Total: +24.1
Matches: 2 – Runs 0, Wickets: 3 at 4.25 rpo, Catches: 1, Missed run-out: 1
Rashid Khan makes it into his third TOTW after another week of typically miserly performances. His economy rate of 4.25 for the week is staggeringly brilliant, and rises to just 5.29 for the tournament, which is the lowest for any of the 45 bowlers to have bowled over 100 deliveries in the competition. Rashid has moved onto a total tournament Impact of +100.1, and is breathing down the neck of Jofra Archer (+121.5) for the CricViz Impact purple cap, which unfortunately doesn’t get as much traction as the official Purple Cap award.
10. Trent Boult
Impact – Bowling: +34.6 – Total: +34.6
Matches: 2 – Wickets: 4 at 7.25 rpo
Trent Boult is the leading Powerplay wicket taker in the tournament, with 10 of his 17 wickets coming in the first six overs of the innings. Earlier in the week, he amassed figures of 4 for 18 in their 10 wicket demolition of Chennai, which earned him an Impact rating of +35.5. This bowling effort was the highest individual Impact score of the tournament so far, eclipsing Mohammed Shami’s 3 for 15 (+28.4) against Delhi capitals three days previously. This spell from Boult featured 70.8% dot balls, which is the joint highest of any spell so far in the tournament, and is more than enough to earn him a spot on today’s list.
11. Yuzvendra Chahal
Impact – Bowling: +25.6 – Total: +25.6
Matches: 2 – Wickets: 3 at 4.50 rpo
Not letting Jofra Archer run away with the most TOTW appearances, Yuzvendra Chahal is here again, for his fourth appearance in just five weeks. Chahal has registered double figure positive Impact performances in his last three games and continues to cause trouble for batters everywhere. His standout performance of the week was his 2 for 15 against Kolkata, which earned him an Impact rating of +14.0, his second best performance of the tournament.
Rufus Bullough is an analyst for CricViz – Follow him @rufus_cricket
