IPL 2020: Best XI from the first four weeks of the tournament

The first four weeks of the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is done and dusted. All teams seemed stronger on paper and due to their bad execution on the cricket field, some teams were standing at the bottom of the points table. While Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals are fighting for the top position in the points table, Kings XI Punjab have constantly been at the 8th position from the second week of the ongoing season. RR, KKR, CSK, and SRH were still trying to find a perfect combination to get into the winning strike. The coming few weeks of the tournament promise to be an exciting one as the teams like SRH, KKR, CSK, RR, and KXIP have to win most of their matches from now on to reach the playoffs. Now, in this article let us try to build the best XI of players from the many top performers in the first four weeks of the tournament. A team have six bowling options with 5 regular bowlers and batting depth up to 8th position seemed to succeed in the tournament so far and we followed the same combination here. Here is the list of Best XI from the first four weeks of IPL 2020: – 1. KL Rahul (KXIP) KL Rahul. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI) The Karnataka born right-handed opening batsman is currently having the Orange Cap with him with 448 runs in 8 matches he has played in this season so far. But the Punjab franchise which he is leading is standing at the bottom of the table despite the skipper’s heroics with the bat. Opening the innings with Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul is batting throughout the innings but due to the inconsistent middle-order, the Punjab franchise registered just two victories in the tournament so far. The inclusion of Chris Gayle strengthened their middle order and time will decide the fate of the franchise in the coming days. KL Rahul has a magnificent batting average of 74.67. His strike rate is 134.84, and he has slammed 38 fours and 15 sixes in this tournament thus far. It will be interesting to see if the Karnataka-based star can turn things around in the second half of the season. 2. Quinton de Kock (MI) Quinton de Kock. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI) The South African wicketkeeper-batsman started off the season with a bad form with the bat but gained his form back as the tournament progressed. He played a crucial role in the team’s success in the recent matches and scored 265 runs in this season so far. When he failed in initial matches and Ishan Kishan scored a 99 against the Royal Challengers Bangalore he received a lot of criticism and the fans expected that the franchise will bring Chris Lynn as an opener but he silenced his critics with a match-winning knock against SRH and from then, he continued his good form so far. With KL Rahul and Quinton de Kock opening the batting, even the strongest bowling attack has to strive hard to break the opening pair which will be a mix of class and hard-hitting simultaneously. 3. Virat Kohli (RCB) Virat Kohli (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI) The skipper of the Indian cricket team and the Bangalore franchise made into the list with 347 runs with an average of 57.83 in the ongoing season. Be it power play or middle overs or the death overs if King Kohli is in the middle bowlers won’t like to bowl to him as he can take away the match in no time. The right-handed batsman from Delhi has aggregated 347 runs in 9 matches. He played a magnificent knock of 90* against the Chennai Super Kings. The best part about his inning against Chennai Super Kings was the way how he paced his inning. Kohli has slammed two half-centuries in IPL 2020 so far. His average is 57.83, while his strike rate has been around 125. King Kohli will aim to better his strike rate in the upcoming games of IPL 2020. 4. AB de Villiers (RCB) AB de Villiers. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI) Another name from Royal Challengers Bangalore to feature on this list is Virat Kohli’s best friend, AB de Villiers. It is noteworthy that both Kohli and ABD are competing for finishing the games for their team. After Josh Philippe failed as a wicket-keeper batsman in the first two games, ABD donned the wicket keeping gloves and did a reasonable job behind the stumps. His innings of 73 runs off 33 balls against Kolkata Knight Riders on a slow pitch was a treat to watch and it made the difference between both the teams. In 9 matches he played in this season so far, ABD scored 285 runs at an average of 57 and a strike rate of 190. He also took 5 catches in the tournament and played an important role in the franchise’s success in this season and is expected to continue his good form throughout the season. 5. Shreyas Iyer (DC) Shreyas Iyer. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI) The Delhi Capitals skipper, Shreyas Iyer has played the role of a top-order batsman extremely well. He has led the Capitals from the front with his consistency. He has scored 321 runs in 9 innings at an average of 40, with the highest score of 88*. Iyer scored the impeccable 88* against Kolkata Knight Riders in Sharjah. He is scoring at an average of 40, which shows that he was getting the starts but was unable to convert them into big scores. His captaincy has also been spot-on, with excellent decisions. Iyer walks into this side on the basis of both his captaincy and his batting prowess. He shall get the help of experienced players like AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli in this team. 6. Rahul Tewatia (RR) Rahul Tewatia. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI) Be it batting, bowling or fielding Rahul Tewatia became a backbone of the Royals with his three-dimensional play. He started winning matches for the team and played a crucial role in the franchise’s limited success this year. Tewatia’s performance of the season was his 53 off 31 balls against Kings XI Punjab, which came in a record run-chase of 224 runs- the highest in the history of the IPL. He smacked Sheldon Cottrell for five sixes in the 18th over after struggling to get bat on ball for the first 19 balls, where he scored only eight runs. This move was later hailed as a masterstroke by critics. He also picked up 3/36 against Chennai Super Kings in Sharjah while defending 216. In the match against Sunrisers Hyderabad, the top order of the Royals collapsed and almost lost the match before Tweatia paired up with Riyan Parag and won the match from nowhere. For his contribution of 45 runs in the end he was also awarded the man of the match. 7. Anrich Nortje (DC) Anrich Nortje. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI) The 26-year-old South African right-arm pacer came into this IPL as a replacement of Chris Woakes and it became a golden choice for the franchise. He is leading the pace attack with his countryman Kagiso Rabada and evolved as the team’s death over specialist in the current season. He bowled the fastest ball of the IPL against Rajasthan Royals and the ball recorded over 156 kmph on the scale. In 9 matches he has played in this season so far he picked 12 wickets at an economy of 7.75 and an average of 23.25. The Delhi Capitals franchise, who are looking forward to lifting the trophy this year will hope that their fast bowler will continue his form throughout the tournament this season. 8. Jasprit Bumrah (MI) Jasprit Bumrah and Rohit Sharma. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI) Jasprit Bumrah has been the most successful Indian bowler in IPL 2020 so far. He has picked up 12 wickets for the Mumbai Indians in 8 matches. The right-arm quick bowler recorded his career-best IPL figures of 4/20, playing against the Rajasthan Royals. He did not have a good game against Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore. However, in recent matches, he has ensured that the batsmen are not able to dominate his pace bowling. Bumrah has figures of 2/18, 2/41, and 4/20 in this IPL. Considering that the match against SRH, where he leaked 41 runs, happened in Sharjah, one can say that his performance has been of top quality. Jasprit Bumrah’s strike rate is 20.46 and he is bowling with an economy rate of 7.62 and an average of 20.33. Bumrah is expected to continue his good form throughout the season and help Mumbai Indians defend the title 9. Kagiso Rabada (DC) Kagiso Rabada. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI) Another South African and Delhi Capitals fast bowler found a way into the squad and one doesn’t have to explain the reason for his inclusion as he is holding the Purple Cap this season with 19 wickets in 9 games so far. The Proteas pace bowler has a commendable strike rate of 11.26, while his economy rate has been 7.82. Like Jasprit Bumrah, Kagiso Rabada has taken a four-wicket haul in this season. He had recorded figures of 4/24 against Royal Challengers Bangalore. With Bumrah, Nortje, and Rabada in the team, the batsmen of the opponents will surely struggle to score runs as this trio is capable of taking wickets and restricting the run rate in the middle. 10. Yuzvendra Chahal (RCB) Yuzvendra Chahal. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI) Yuzvendra Chahal played an important role in the Royal Challengers Bangalore franchise’s success in this season. Chahal is the most successful spinner in this IPL with 13 wickets in 9 games and is currently standing second in the race of Purple Cap. Chahal’s ability to attack the batsmen even after getting hit made him the most successful leg-spinner in the history of IPL. In the match against Rajasthan Royals, Sanju Samson attacked him by hitting 6 of his first ball but he came back brilliantly by picking 2 wickets in the same over. Captain Virat Kohli will hope that his leading spin bowler continues to dominate the bowlers’ charts in the coming weeks. For the record, Chahal’s economy rate and strike rate has been 7.64 and 16.44 this year. 11. Ravichandran Ashwin (DC) Ravichandran Ashwin. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI) Yet an another Delhi Capitals bowler made into this list as Ravi Ashwin has been the best off-spinner playing in IPL 2020. He has picked 7 wickets in 7 games so far and is picking wickets at a crucial time for the franchise. In the franchise’s first match against Kings XI Punjab, Ravi Ashwin bowled just an over before injuring himself and picked two crucial wickets in that over by conceding just 2 runs. With their senior spinner Amit Mishra ruled out of the season due to finger injury, Ravi Ashwin is expected to lead the spin attack of the franchise along with Axar Patel and win the first-ever trophy for the franchise in the ongoing IPL. ~Written by Uday Gurugubelli *All the data provided are until Match 34 (CSK vs DC) on October 17.

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