The fourth week of the IPL 2018 was all about teams at the bottom of the table trying to keep themselves alive against the toppers. In fact, in few such encounters, the bottom teams managed to defeat the toppers with ease. The trend of the matches in this week of the IPL was a high-scoring one. Kings XI Punjab did not play even a single match in this week.

 

Still, there was one team in the IPL which made the most changes in the tournament so far, they even changed and dropped their captain. That team managed to win two out of three matches and is deservedly the team of the week owing to its resurgence. It is Delhi Daredevils.

Match Details

On Friday 27th, a new-look Delhi Daredevils batted first against Kolkata Knight Riders at Delhi. In the absence of Gambhir, the duo of Munro-Shaw came out. Both blasted to give DD the perfect start. Shaw perished for 62 runs from 44 balls and it was then the captain Shreyas Iyer stepped up. He scored 90* from just 44 balls. KKR failed to chase 219 runs.

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DD then traveled to Pune to take on the in-form CSK team. Here Delhi allowed Chennai to bat first. CSK with the fiery innings from Watson, Rayudu and Dhoni managed a mountain of 211 runs. Delhi had a poor start. Rishabh Pant put up a show and Vijay Shankar tried his best but DD fell 13 runs short.

Dehi then made a splendid comeback against Rajasthan Royal in the rain-hit encounter. Batting first, on the back of Shaw and Rishabh Pant explosive batting, Delhi reached 196/6 until the rain stopped the match. Despite the effort from Jos Buttler and Short, DD prevailed and won by 4 runs.

What Worked Well

Delhi Daredevils sported both the Orange cap and Purple cap in this week. Rishabh Pant has been consistent and has played some mind-blowing innings’. Trent Boult meanwhile has been excellent both at the start and the death. Prithvi Shaw and Shreyas Iyer have delivered with the bat as well. The unit is coming together.

Where from here on

Despite the wins, Delhi still finds themselves at the seventh spot with three wins and six losses in the nine matches that they have played. They face a stiff challenge of Sunrisers Hyderabad home and away. They will then face Royal Challengers Bangalore at home.