IPL 2019: The best playing XI after Week 1

Middle Order: Sanju Samson (wk), Nitish Rana and Vijay Shankar

Nitish Rana has beautifully led KKR's middle order

The first century of this season was scored by Sanju Samson and his consistency is unmatched. He has been the best No.3 player and has anchored his team on all occasions. His ability to rotate the strike and caress the ball to get it out the park is amazing. Samson's stroke play is just beautiful and in the two innings that he has played, he has shown everyone that he is here to stay.

With a strike rate of 165 and an average of 132, he is the obvious choice for No.3 in the team.

Nitish Rana will make the cut for the No.4 position. Despite his poor outing in the 3rd game versus Delhi, his first two games were absolutely stunning. He has held the Kolkata middle order together and the way he has batted has just been amazing. His scores of 68 and 63 have been extremely important knocks and his team has won both the games in which he has performed. Rana can even bowl and is a partnership breaker. When in the zone, Rana is a match winner and he comes into the best XI of the week after his stellar performances.

Vijay Shankar has been a star performer this IPL. He has scored 40 runs (not out) and 35 runs in the two matches that he has played at an unbelievable strike rate of 192 plus, second only to Andre Russell and Rishabh Pant. He has been a master at hitting those sixes and his ability to rotate strike and finish the innings is second to none. He makes the perfect No.5 for the team and can also chip in with a few quiet overs as well.

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