Second week of IPL: Batting woes and lack of thrills

A collage of pictures of IPL matches of second week. All Pictures Credit: BCCI; IPL

MI's batting woes continue

MI's Ishan Kishan is clean bowled by DC's spinner Amit Mishra at Chennai on Tuesday. PIC/BCCI; IPL

Defending Champions Mumbai Indians suffered lower middle-order collapses for the second consecutive week as Rohit Sharma's men managed just 150-5 and 137-9 against Sunrisers Hyderabad and Delhi Capitals respectively. The five-time champions defended the total successfully against Hyderabad, thanks to 3-19 by spinner Rahul Chahar and some superb bowling at the death by pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult. MI, however, couldn't repeat the performance against Delhi, thus lost the game by six wickets.

Four-wicket hauls for Deepak Chahar

CSK pacer Deepak Chahar celebrates the wicket of Punjab Kings' Nicholas Pooran at Wankhede last week. PIC/BCCI; IPL

After going wicketless in the first match against Delhi Capitals, Chennai Super Kings pacer Deepak Chahar returned with a bang, claiming eight wickets in the last three matches, including four-wicket hauls against Punjab and Kolkata Knight Riders. The right-arm pacer claimed 4-13 off four overs as CSK restricted Punjab to 106-8 in 20 overs to win the game by six wickets. Chahar was not at his best (0-32 off three overs) against Rajasthan Royals, but returned with an impressive figures of 4-29 against KKR.

Finally, a win for Sunrisers

SRH skipper David Warner and Jonny Bairstow during their 73-run opening stand against Punjab Kings on Wednesday. PIC/BCCI; IPL

Sunrisers Hyderabad managed to register their first-ever win in IPL-14 after three losses by defeating Punjab Kings by nine wickets at Chennai. David Warner's men, who have so far batted second in all four matches, came close to winning the first three games, but lack of support by the lower middle-order batsmen couldn't take Sunrisers over the line. The former champions, however, didn't let their guard down against Punjab on Wednesday. Batting first, Sunrisers skittled out Punjab for a mere 120. In reply, they chased the target with nine wickets in hand.

Dhawan on song

DC's Shikhar Dhawan celebrates his 50 against Punjab Kings at Wankhede recently. PIC/BCCI; IPL

Delhi Capitals' opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan continued his fine form to be the leading scorer in IPL-14 with 231 runs in four matches at a superb average of 57.75. Dhawan, who was dropped from the Playing XI after the first game of five-match series v England last month, smashed 92 and 45 against Punjab Kings and MI respectively to guide DC home. The southpaw's 49-ball knock against Punjab helped DC chase the 196-run target with 10 balls to spare. He was also the top-scorer (45) against MI.

No thrilling contests here

Dejected KKR all-rounder Pat Cummins shakes hand with CSK skipper MS Dhoni after their 18-run loss at Wankhede on Wednesday. PIC/BCCI; IPL

Week One of IPL-14 witnessed some thrilling last-ball encounters and a lot was expected the following week too. However, barring MI v SRH, the low-scoring thriller and KKR v CSK high-scoring contests, the other seven matches played through the week, failed to keep the spectators on the edge of their seats. MI bowlers accounted for the team's second turnaround in the tournament as Rohit's men defended 150-5 against SRH. While, KKR pacer Pat Cummins (66 not out off 34 balls) and all-rounder Andre Russell (22-ball 54) provided some entertainment while chasing CSK's 220-3, the Shah Rukh Khan co-owned side fell short by 18 runs.