IPL 2021: Top 5 Performers Of The Week (April 26-May 2)
This week has seen some amazing knocks and some amazing spells, with teams winning from huge margins and a batsman scoring 6 fours in a single over.
Here are our selection of Top 5 Performers of the week in IPL 2021 for the period 26th April to 2nd May:
No 5: Harpreet Brar (PBKS) 3/19 (4) & 25* (17)
In the match played between PBKS and RCB, Harpreet Brar scored a handy 25 runs from 17 balls including 1 four and 2 sixes with the bat.
In the second innings when Punjab was bowling, Virat Kohli targeted Harpreet Brar by hitting a number of boundaries during his spell. Soon enough, Harpreet made a comeback on the first ball of the 11th over, by bowling Virat out for just 35 runs from 34 balls including 3 fours and 1 six. On the very next ball he clean bowled Maxwell for a golden duck.
All the members in RCB’s dugout and their fans looked up to AB de Villiers in bringing RCB some hope. Although, in the 13th over, all hopes of RCB were shattered by Brar as he took the wicket of the savior AB de Villiers and put RCB in a situation from where there was no chance of victory. He went on from being a target of the batsmen to the nightmare of the batsmen and dismissed the destructive trio of RCB all on his own. He was named the man of the match.
No 4: Prithvi Shaw (DC) 82*(41)
In the match between DC and KKR, Shaw powered the innings for DC by batting on a splendid strike rate of 200.00 while others struggled to score runs at a fast pace. He became the only second player after Ajinkya Rahane to score 6 fours in a single over. He maintained a huge opening partnership with Shikhar Dhawan until the 14th over. His innings helped DC set a fightable target and win the match. Had he gotten out earlier, DC would have surely been in trouble. He scored 82 runs from 41 balls including 11 fours and 3 sixes.
No3: Mayank Agarwal (PBKS) 99* (58)
In the match between PBKS and DC, Mayank Agarwal played as captain since KL Rahul was unavailable. He came in to open and no one could stick with him at the other end as wickets kept on falling one by one.
With no one to support him, he took the lead and kept on scoring runs at a good rate. He stood not out till the end and scored 99* runs from just 58 balls including 8 fours and 4 sixes. Despite Punjab losing that match, he was named the Man of the Match.
No 2: Jos Buttler (RR) 124 (64)
In the match between RR and SRH. Jos Buttler came in to open and pressured the bowlers from the very start. Even after Yashashvi Jaiswal was dismissed just in the 3rd over, he didn’t let the momentum shift and kept it in RR’s favor fearlessly striking every ball he could. By the end of the 17th over he completed his century.
In the 19th over, he was dismissed by Sandeep Sharma but he had done his job just right. He scored 124 runs from 64 balls including 11 fours and 8 sixes. Rajasthan went on to win the match by 55 runs.
No 1: Kieron Pollard (MI) 2/12 (2) & 87* (34)
During the match between CSK and MI, in the 12th over, Pollard came in to bowl and dismissed the in-form Faf du Plessis and ended his destructive innings with him scoring 50 runs from 28 balls. On the very next ball, he dismissed Suresh Raina for just 2 runs from 4 balls. Nonetheless, terrific knocks by Faf du Plessis, Moeen Ali, and Ambati Rayadu helped CSK score a huge target of 218 runs.
The earlier MI batsmen couldn’t maintain the required run rate, but as soon as Pollard entered the ground he shook everyone with his brutal striking stealing away the momentum from CSK. By the end of the 15th over, he completed his half-century from just 17 balls, In the 18th over, he was dropped by Faf du Plessis when he was on 70* from 26 balls. He further went on to finish the game for MI and handed them their first 200+ run chase victory. He scored 87 runs from 34 balls including 6 fours and 8 sixes.
