Day 6 of the tenth edition of the Indian Premier League was the least glitzy and glamorous of the tournament so far. The only celebrity in attendance seemed to be team owner Priety Zinta. The rather repetitive opening ceremonies are finally done and dusted and it is on to the actual cricket now. Day 6 saw a match between Kings XI Punjab and Royal Challengers Bangalore. This was match no 8 played at the Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore.
The Bangalore team chose to field after winning the toss. Skipper Shane Watson departed early, but, A B de Villiers top scored for this team with his 89 run contribution. RCB made a rather underwhelming 148/4 in their 20 overs.
When the total put up was so low, it was expected that the match would be a rather one sided affair. It didn’t take too much effort for KXIP to overhaul the modest total set. They did it with 8 wickets and 33 balls to spare.
For a change it was bowling that determined the man of the match title. Axar Patel was awarded man of the match for his bowling figures of 1/14 and the fact that he dismissed the opposition captain in the very first over, while he had scored just one run.
Every team except the Delhi Daredevils (only one match played) and RCB (three matches played) has now played two matches each. Defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kings XI Punjab won both theirs and have four points each (SRH is ahead by net run rate). KKR, MI, RPS and RCB have won one match each and follow with two points each. Delhi Daredevils and Gujarat Lions have not won a match so far.
The Aussie who plays for Kolkata Knight Riders is the Orange Cap winner. He has made 125 runs so far with 9 sixes, a top score of 93 and the best batting strike rate of 192.3. However, his shoulder injury in yesterday’s game as he dived in the field, means that his future in the tournament is under serious doubt.
Rashid Khan of SRH got the Purple cap for his bowling. He has taken 5 wickets from his two matches and has tournament best figures of 3/19. Pawan Negi of RCB has the best bowling average and Shahbaz Nadeem has the best economy figures of the competition so far.
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