Rating teams based on their performance in first week of IPL 2021

It’s been quite a great start to the tournament this year. It’s the 14th edition of IPL and every team is looking strong filled with match winners. It was visible in the matches that have been played till now. It’s good to see young Indian faces such as Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson leading their respective teams for the first time. There’s a breath of fresh air in every single team with a great mixture of experience and youth. Out of 7 matches played as of yet, only one match hasn’t reached the 40th and decisive over. It’s still very early in the tournament and you would never know where the points table stands before the qualifiers and eliminator. Some teams have shown impressive runs as of now while some others are still looking to find their rhythm totally. Here are team rankings as of now based on their performance in the first week in descending order from M1 to M7. Rating teams based on their performance in the first week of IPL 2021 8. Chennai Super Kings – 6/10 Chennai Super Kings. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI) It hasn’t been a great start for CSK in this tournament. In fact, their match was the only one out of the lot which was one-sided. The openers of Delhi Capitals never gave a chance for a fightback to CSK bowlers. While the bowling failed badly in the first game, the batting hasn’t really stood out either. Their opening combination is more or less cemented with Ruturaj Gaikwad and Faf Du Plessis. Furthermore, they have changed the natural batting position of Suresh Raina and Ambati Rayudu. While the middle order looked in fine touch, they still are not consistent with their performances. Although it’s been just one game, CSK would have to turn it around in the next few games. MS Dhoni needs to step up with the bat and the bowlers have to do a better job. They still are a quality team with proven match-winners, but they seem to be out of touch. 7. Punjab Kings – 6.5/10 Punjab Kings. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI) Punjab Kings have won their first match against Rajasthan Royals so this might come as a surprise to see them so low on the list. They did put on a show when they batted first up. KL Rahul, Chris Gayle, Deepak Hooda batted extremely well while Mayank Agarwal and the surprise package Shahrukh Khan looked really solid. After having an almost perfect batting performance, Punjab Kings still looked to lose it at one point. The major concern for them is their bowling. Even though Mohammad Shami was at his best despite returning to cricket after a long time, their other bowlers let them down. It’s not always going to be the case that Punjab scores 221 odd and any score under 180 would be really difficult to defend with that bowling lineup. Murugan Ashwin, Jhye Richardson, Riley Meredith will have to show a better performance in the matches to come. 6. Sunrisers Hyderabad – 7/10 Sunrisers Hyderabad. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI) While they have lost two matches early on, SRH wouldn’t find it really hard to make a comeback in the tournament. They have lost with the slightest of margins in both their games and it’s their chasing that needs to get better at any cost. SRH has a near-perfect top order and bowling line up but they lack the firepower in the middle overs. There’s been a lot of criticism thrown around Manish Pandey but he has tried his best to win both games for his team. It’s guys like Abdul Samad and Vijay Shankar who need to step up and prove why they have been backed so well by their franchise. Both of them are talented and have the capability to face pressure situations. When it comes to bowling, SRH would expect just a bit better from Bhuvneshwar Kumar although he did his job in the last game. Jason Holder has been really good since his inclusion in the latter half of the 2020 edition of IPL. Wriddhiman Saha is expected to do better too, considering he failed to even get a start in the last couple of games. 5. Delhi Capitals – 7.5/10 Delhi Capitals. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI) They have won one and lost the other in the couple of matches played in the tournament as of now. Delhi Capitals look really strong on paper and are a major contender to win the IPL trophy this season. Things haven’t changed much despite the fact that Pant is leading the side instead of Iyer who’s been ruled out of the tournament due to a shoulder injury. Delhi Capitals look really strong on paper with match-winners in both departments. The problem for them is how they are going to shape up the batting lineup. There are too many contenders for the top order, Marcus Stonis and Ajinkya Rahane would love to bat at the top of the order and so would the captain himself. The death bowling was quite poor in both the games which resulted in at least 15 more runs in the first match and the loss in the other. Kagiso Rabada has looked good as of now and he would be desperately wanting his South African mate Anrich Nortje back. If Delhi Capitals can solve these issues early on, there’s no doubt that they will be standing somewhere around the top of the table. 4. Kolkata Knight Riders – 8/10 Kolkata Knight Riders. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI) KKR’s performance can be divided into two parts, how they played in the 40 overs of the first match coupled with 35 overs of the next match and what transpired in the last 5 overs against Mumbai Indians. KKR was clinical in all the departments and showed a great sign of winning the IPL trophy for the 3rd time. But the fact that they couldn’t chase 31 off 30 balls might still be hurting the team and their fans. The team looks as good as Mumbai Indians or Delhi Capitals on paper barring a couple of aspects. In fact, KKR is one step ahead into the future with how they have backed their talents. They have reaped the benefits as well with solid showings from Nitish Rana, Rahul Tripathi, and Varun Chakravarthy, just to name a few. But it’s how they play against Mumbai Indians which costs them a place in the top 4 almost every year. They can’t afford to make the same mistakes this season too. KKR finished 5th in the last two seasons and they wouldn’t want to suffer another heartbreak this year as well. 3. Mumbai Indians – 8.5/10 Mumbai Indians. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI) Mumbai Indians can lose all the initial matches and still find a place in the playoffs. They have won the tournament twice in a row and look as strong as ever to do it again. They are the most successful franchise of IPL for a reason. Mumbai Indians did lose against RCB in the first game but they fought their way to victory up until the very last ball. In the 2nd match, they stole it away from KKR when the victory was almost certain for the Knights. It’s not the first time that Mumbai Indians have turned around the game out of nowhere, in fact, they have done the same in a couple of IPL finals. In the batting department, they have Rohit Sharma & De Kock as openers followed by Ishan Kishan, SKY, Pollard in the middle, and Pandya brothers as finishers. The bowling department consists of Boult & Bumrah along with Rahul Chahar & the darkhorse Marco Jansen. This team just doesn’t have a weak link and it would be very difficult to stop them this season as well. 2. Royal Challengers Bangalore – 9/10 Royal Challengers Bangalore. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI) They have won 2 out of 2 and stand at the top of the table. It’s been after a long that RCB has shown such positive signs early on in the tournament. However, there are still certain issues to be addressed. While Maxwell and De Villiers have looked in touch, Virat hasn’t been at his comfortable best. The newcomers like Sundar & Padikkal haven’t had great starts to the tournament either. They would be expecting better finishing from Dan Christian who’s certainly a better finisher than what he’s shown in the first two games. Harshal Patel’s arrival has been a big sigh of relief as he already has one fifer. Siraj and Jamieson have looked great too while Chahal has always been a consistent performer. Now that their bowling looks much better, they need to do better with the bat in hand if they would like to win the tournament this year in order to end the drought. 1. Rajasthan Royals – 9.5/10 Rajasthan Royals. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI) Rajasthan Royals looks the weakest on the paper now that Ben Stokes is gone. With their batting woes which had only Buttler & Samson as potential match winners early on, it was difficult to take the team seriously in terms of winning the entire tournament. The bowling doesn’t look threatening either with the exception of Chris Morris. But in both the games played till now, they have exceeded the expectations. While David Miller has stood up in the batting, Jaydev Unadkat had a terrific spell of bowling in the last game. Chris Morris’ all-round performances are a cherry on the cake. Sanju Samson himself looks in terrific touch and you never know when Jos Buttler comes up with a fantastic performance which you can always expect from him. Rahul Tewatia, Mustafizur Rahman have looked good too in their respective departments with their maximum potential yet to be reached. Rajasthan Royals is the top performer till now and they just need to be consistent in order to make things happen!

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Rating teams based on their performance in first week of IPL 2021

Where teams stand after their performance in the first week?

7. Punjab Kings – 6.5/10

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