5 interesting takeaways from the first week of IPL 2018

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The Indian Premier League is truly well and back with its usual explosive demeanor, bringing the biggest stars from all over the globe under one roof.

The 2018 edition of IPL has had its fair share of moments and recurring courses during the initial phase of the long tournament.

The captains are often forced to employ certain decisions depending on the state of the game, which gives rise to a certain trend that defines the overall image of the tournament among several other factors.

Let's take a look at some key takeaways after the culmination of the first week of the much-awaited competition.

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#5 Win the toss, win the game

The toss has clearly made a huge impact with the sides preferring to chase

The initial eight games of this edition's IPL has seen the side winning the toss winning seven encounters. All of the sides have opted to chase upon winning the toss.

The art of chasing has been redefined with the side batting second having the luxury of plotting the chase to attain the target set to them.

The reason behind this might stem from the fact that the sides want to know the nature of the wicket before batting on it. Except for the rain-marred game between the Delhi Daredevils and Rajasthan Royals, the sides batting second have successfully managed to chase down their target.

#4 Close encounters

People are left with no nails after watching the initial encounters of the IPL

The big money league has had its fair share of close encounters with several matches going right down to the wire.

The eleventh edition of the IPL kick-started with one of the closest encounters in the competition's history after the returning Chennai Super Kings managed to topple the defending champions with just a ball to spare.

Following that match, several fixtures ended in the latter stages of the game.

Chennai Super Kings were once again involved in a nail-biting finish against Kolkata Knight Riders, while SRH vs MI as well as RCB vs KXIP matches went down to the wire.

#3 The struggles of the big-name overseas openers

Munro would hope to turn it on in the upcoming fixtures

One of the key highlights of the IPL auction was the eagerness of the franchises to go after overseas openers who have made their name in the shortest format of the game.

D'Arcy Short, Evin Lewis and Colin Munro were some of the openers who managed to grab the attention of the franchises as they have been in sublime touch in the recent past.

But the big names have failed to give their teams a headstart in the tournament.

Short and Munro were involved in run outs, whereas Lewis failed to negotiate an inswinger from Deepak Chahar and a knuckleball from Siddharth Kaul.

These explosive batsmen would look to make a statement in the upcoming fixtures. On the other hand, Quinton de Kock and Brendon McCullum will seek to be consistent to put less pressure on the RCB middle order.

#2 Surprising opening combinations

The ploy to move Saha at the top has not worked for SRH so far

The importance of the top order is vital in cricket, especially in the shortest format of the game. A steady opening partnership is essential for the middle order to really express themselves, as well as make maximum utilisation of the powerplay overs.

Multiple sides have experimented with new opening combinations in this edition of the IPL so far; Chennai Super Kings have deployed Ambati Rayudu to face the new ball, while Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians have done the same thing with Wriddhiman Saha and Rohit Sharma, respectively.

Rayudu has done very well at the top of the order for the men in yellow as the former Mumbai Indians batsman has provided good starts alongside Watson.

But the same can't be said for some others like Saha and Rohit Sharma. Saha was given the push to the very top to fill the deep void created by the absence of David Warner.

While Rohit Sharma generally bats in the middle order for the Mumbai franchise, he decided to open alongside Evin Lewis, pushing Ishan Kishan to number three. The opening combination is yet to reap results, but things could change if the batsman finds his rhythm.

#1 Utilisation of spinners

Youngster Mayank Markande has created havoc with his top-notch bowling performances

Spin has always been a pivotal part of the IPL and will continue to be; this season has seen the emergence of spin in an unexpected way.

The deployment of Sunil Narine, Mayank Markande, Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Rahman has been a delight to watch as the batsmen have struggled to face them.

While the opening of the innings by a spinner has been a familiar sight for the eyes, the spinners bowling majority of the powerplay is still a sight to digest. The spinners have kept the scoring in check and a stat backs that claim - the economy of the spinners during the death overs is an impressive 6.3 compared to the pace economy which rises over 9.

Recently, Shakib-Al-Hasan claimed that reading leg-spinners has been a tough task for batsmen.