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The fans witnessed eight brilliant matches in the first seven days of the 12th season of the IPL. Although the tournament has just begun, the points table is beginning to take a shape now.
While Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Capitals are placed at the top of the points table, Chennai Super Kings are placed third with two wins in two matches. On the other hand, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rajasthan Royals must have realized that they need to turn the corner as they are yet to register a point this season.
The tournament began with a low scoring encounter between CSK and RCB when Virat Kohli's men folded up for a paltry total of 70 runs. Since then, batsmen have dominated the proceedings as we have seen some huge scores in other matches.
It is proving to be an exciting tournament and we have tried to pick a combined XI selecting players who have done well in the first week IPL 2019.
Openers: Shikhar Dhawan and David Warner
David Warner missed the last season of the IPL due to his involvement in the ball-tampering scandal. The Australian superstar is apparently trying to make up for the lost time as he has started the season on a bang.
The SRH opener has been brilliant in both the matches for his team. The Australian opener scored half-centuries in his first two IPL innings after the comeback.
Shikhar Dhawan was not in the good form in International cricket but he has done well in IPL this season. Although Delhi Capitals have a lot of talented batsmen in their ranks, an experienced head like Dhawan provides much-needed solidity to the batting line up. He can play the sheet anchor role in the batting lineup.
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Middle-order: Robbie Uthappa, Nitish Rana and Sanju Samson
Although Robin Uthappa was always found wanting for consistency in International cricket, he has been very consistent in the IPL in the last few years irrespective of the franchise he is playing for. Amongst all the attacking resources possessed by KKR, Uthappa's ability to hold the innings together has helped them this season.
Amongst all the superstars possessed by KKR, a talented cricketer like Nitish Rana goes under the radar. The KKR all-rounder has scored a half-century in both the matches and that too at an impressive strike-rate.
Sanju Samson has scored the first century of this IPL season against SRH. Although the superb innings from the youngster went in vain, the display of strokeplay spoke volumes of the talent possessed by the right-handed batsman. He is now the first Indian to score two IPL centuries before turning 25. The young wicketkeeper-batsmasn scored his maiden IPL century in 2017 season.
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Wicket Keeper and All-rounder: Rishabh Pant, Andre Russell and Rashid Khan
Rishabh Pant started the season with a bang as he scored 78 runs off just 27 balls against MI. In that innings, he didn't even spare Jasprit Bumrah as MI bowlers looked helpless in front of him. He has scored over 500 runs at a strike rate in excess of 180 his last eight IPL games.
Andre Russell has arguably been the best player of the season so far. The West Indian all-rounder made match-winning contributions in the first two matches of this season. He was one of the prime reason why KKR won their first two games of this season. The mighty right-hander has already smashed over 10 sixes in the ongoing season.
Rashid Khan is underrated as an all-rounder as some fans still think of him as a specialist bowler only. The fact that he won the man of the match award vs RR in spite of taking just one wicket proves that he has more to his game than just bowling.
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Bowlers: Yuzvendra Chahal, Imran Tahir and Jasprit Bumrah
RCB lost their first two matches of the season but that does not mean some players have not done well for them. Yuzvendra Chahal has been putting up good performances with the ball for the Virat Kohli led team. The wrist spinner took most number of wickets in the first week of the season. RCB would need more such performances from him if they want to save their season.
Imran Tahir was fantastic for CSK in the opening match of the season against RCB. The South African leg-spinner ran through the RCB batting in that match as they folded up for just 70 runs. If Tahir can continue this form, it would be very tough for anyone to stop CSK this season.
Jasprit Bumrah is one of the best bowlers of this generation, across all formats. After a poor outing by his standards in the first match, the fast bowler showed his class against RCB. The Indian pace spearhead gave away just 20 runs and took three wickets in his quota of four overs against Virat Kohli's men.
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