Having won three of their four matches so far and because of their superior net run rate, Sunrises Hyderabad leads the league table at the end of the fourth round. Kings XI Punjab and Chennai Super Kings, both of whom also have three victories each, are placed second and third respectively. Royal Challengers Bangalore lost their match to Rajasthan Royals and continue at the bottom with no points to their name.

Jonny Bairstow and David Warner help SRH to the top of the league Source

Match 13: Kings XI Punjab vs. Delhi Capitals

Despite bowling well to restrict Kings XI Punjab to 166 in the away game, Delhi Capitals lost their last 7 wickets for a paltry 8 runs to lose a match from a good position of needing slightly more than a run per ball. Mohammed Shami and Sam Curran produced spells that decimated the Delhi batsmen. Shami initiated the collapse when he clean bowled Rishab Pant (39 off 26 balls) while Chris Morris was brilliantly run out by Ashwin. Curran got the wicket of Colin Ingram (38 off 29 balls) and then dismissed three Delhi batsmen in a hat trick to leave them stranded at 167 runs all out. Between Curran’s overs, Shami clean bowled Hanuma Vihari, the only hope for Delhi at the time.

Sam Curran, replacing Chris Gayle, mopped up the Delhi Capitals' tail with a hat trick Source

Earlier Kings XI too was in trouble losing Lokesh Rahul for 15 runs. Sam Curran, who was included in the side because Chris Gayle was rested, was taken lbw by Lamichhane. When Mayank Agarwal was run out, Delhi was on 58 for 3 wickets. Sarfaraz Khan (39 off 29 balls) and David Miller (43 off 30 balls) put on a partnership of 62 runs for the third wicket. But once Khan was caught by Pant off Lamichhane, Mandeep Singh (29* off 21 balls), batted well to finish the inning not out. Kings set Capitals a target off 167 runs to get which they defended successfully.

Match 14: Royal Challengers Bangalore vs. Rajasthan Royals

In the battle between the table laggards, Shreyas Gopal of Rajasthan Royals bowled a superb spell to send Royal Challengers Bangalore to their fourth successive defeat of the season. He got rid of Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Shimron Hetmyer to return figures of 3 wickets for 12 runs in 4 overs. Parthiv Patel (67 off 41 balls) and Marcus Stoinis (31* off 28 balls) then steadied the Royal Challengers’ inning and helped them reach a respectable total of 158 for the loss of four wickets. Moeen Ali made a contribution of 18 runs off 9 balls and remained not out.

Shreyas Gopal took the crucial wickets of Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Shimron Hetmeyer of the Royal Challengers Source

Chasing 159 runs for a win Rajasthan Royals started well with their captain Ajinkya Rahane and Jos Butler (59 off 43 balls) putting together 60 runs for the first wicket. Even after Yuzvendra Chahal claimed the wicket of Rahane trapped leg before, Steve Smith (38 off 31 balls) and Butler ensured that the asking rate did not escalate. Rahul Tripathi, who came in when Butler was dismissed by Chahal, finished the match in favour of Rajasthan Royals with a six. He finished with a score of 31 runs off 28 balls and remained not out with Ben Stokes.

Match 15: Mumbai Indians vs. Chennai Super Kings

Mumbai Indians became the first team to win 100 matches in the IPL as they stopped the three-match unbeaten run of Chennai Super Kings. Hardik Pandya starred for Mumbai Indians as he hammered a much needed 25 runs off 8 balls for Mumbai and remained not out with Kieron Pollard (17 off 7 balls). The pair hammered 29 runs off the last over bowled by Dwayne Bravo to help Mumbai Indians to a score of 170. Earlier, Indians were reduced to 52 for 3 and Suryakumar Yadav (59 off 43 balls) and Krunal Pandya (42 off 32 balls) set about rebuilding the inning. When Yadav was out, Mumbai was scoring at less than 7 runs per over. H Pandya and Pollard set that right by adding 45 runs in the last two overs.

Hardik Pandya hammered 25 runs off 8 balls and took crucial Super Kings' wickets to win the match for Mumbai Indians Source
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Chennai Super Kings were reduced to 2 for 6 runs as Jason Behrendorff and Lasith Malinga got the wickets of Ambati Rayudu and Shane Watson respectively. Two overs later, Kieron Pollard took a superb catch at deep mid-wicket to dismiss Suresh Raina and Supper Kings were 33 for 3. Kedar Jadhav (59 off 54 balls) put up a brave fight but Chennai started falling behind on the run rate. Hardik Pandya bowled the fifth and seventh overs of the Chennai inning conceding only six runs. He came back later in the 15th over and got the wickets of MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja, a blow from which Chennai never recovered. They finished their inning at 133 runs for 8 wickets.

Match 16: Delhi Capitals vs. Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Sunrisers brushed aside Delhi Capitals to take the pole position on the league table. On a slow Kotla pitch, Bhuvaneshwar began proceedings with a slow ball. With a combination of pace and spin, SRH got the Capitals wicket at regular intervals. Their highest partnership was 22 for the second wicket between Shikhar Dhawan and Shreyash Iyer. With Iyer scoring 43 runs off 41 balls and Axar Patel contributing 23 off 13, Capitals managed to set a target of 130 for SRH to get.

Mohammed Nabi of Sunrisers finished with two wickets for 21 runs off four overs Source

Johnny Bairstow showed how to play bowlers on a slow wicket. Using his feet to the spinners and playing the pacers with a straight bat he scored 48 runs off 28 balls. By the time he was out with the score on 68 for no loss in 6.5 overs, SRH were well on their way to victory. Mohammed Nabi (17 off 9 balls)and Yousuf Pathan saw Sun Risers cross the line with five wickets in hand. If they had won the first two matches by virtue of their batting, this time they got the better of Capitals by clever bowling on a slow surface.