IPL 2019: Five talking points from the fifth week of the tournament

#4 Too little too late for the Royal Challengers Bangalore; Kings XI Punjab in need for a revival

Virat Kohli (Picture courtesy: iplt20.com)

Such is the nature of the format of the Indian Premier League that once you struggle badly in the first half of the tournament, the second half essentially turns out to be a time where a side is playing catch-up cricket while also hoping for some favorable results in matches that do not involve them.

Who knows it better than Virat Kohli and the Royal Challengers Bangalore? After losing six matches in a row at the start of the tournament, it was always going to be a bumpy road for the Challengers' to the playoffs. But the Men in Red made a decent fist of it by winning four of their last five games before almost crashing out of the tournament after a loss against the Delhi Capitals, it's very difficult for them to qualify from here.

Last week, after getting the better of CSK in a last-ball humdinger, RCB put on a great show against the Kings XI Punjab. Batting first, Parthiv Patel (43 off 24 balls) gave a great start to their innings before AB de Villiers brilliance (82 off 44 balls) and Marcus Stoinis' (46 off 34 balls) last over blitz over Hardus Viljoen saw them score 4-202 after 20 overs.

AB de Villiers against Kings XI Punjab (Picture courtesy: iplt20.com)

KXIP's top-order made a great start to the run-chase with KL Rahul (42), Chris Gayle (23), Mayank Agarwal (35), David Miller (24) and Nicolas Pooran (46) getting off to start. But their inability to cash in on the start like de Villiers did for the RCB, meant KXIP fell short by 17 runs.

With five wins in six matches for KXIP, four teams - KXIP, Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals - are now locked at ten points each and with Mumbai requiring a solitary win to qualify, it will boil down to the four aforementioned teams' to jostle for the No. 4 spot, with RCB having an outside chance.

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#3 Sunrisers falter in the fifth week; Pandey shines but middle-order issues continue to hound

SRH vs RR (Picture courtesy: iplt20.com)

It's safe to say that both Sunrisers and Rajasthan Royals had contrasting fortunes in the past week of the IPL. The Orange Army faltered with two back-to-back defeats against Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings, putting the spotlight back on their fledgling middle-order and death bowling.

It was a deja vu of sorts for the Sunrisers as well as the fans against the Chennai Super Kings as Shane Watson did what won Chennai the IPL last year. Like last year, Watson, who was going through a rough patch before the game, played out a maiden over off Bhuvi before laying into the rest of the Hyderabad bowlers.

He may have missed out on a century, but his 53-ball 96; an innings which included six 6s and nine fours, was enough to get CSK over the line and hand SRH another defeat.

Manish Pandey in form (Picture courtesy: iplt20.com)

One of the few bright spots for SRH this week was the return of the form of Manish Pandey. The promotion to the top of the order seemed to have freed Pandey's mind as the right-hander has smoked back-to-back whirlwind half-centuries (83 vs CSK and 61 vs RR).

Pandey's form will be very crucial for SRH considering the absence of Warner and Bairstow and the lackluster form of their middle-order which paved the way for another defeat this week against the Royals'.