IPL Team of the Week is something I started last year back on Steemit and will carry on this year on Scorum. These are my personal picks for a balanced best 11 players from the week just passed in the IPL i.e. they might not be the highest scorers when it comes to points in the fantasy league but in my opinion they had a significant impact for their teams.
Under that then are the results of the Scorum IPL fantasy league round 1. If you're in that league then you need to move quickly to update you side ready for round 2 and if you've joined but not created a Scorum account then you need to do so in order to claim the prizes.
Team of the week
Chris Gayle - The big man has carried his form for the West Indies straight into the IPL with a crunching 79 in KXIP's opening match victory against RR. He is willing to soak up a few balls at the beginning of his innings because he knows he has the power to make up for it later on. He had an equally fast start to last year's IPL but like his team faded in the 2nd half. Managing him and his fitness looks like a priority for KXIP. The mind is definitely willing at this point but will the body let him down over the next few weeks?
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David Warner - What a great knock under pressure in his first innings back on the really big stage. Warner is tough as nails but I've no doubt that he has had to do some serious soul searching over the last year. A lesser character may have crumbled under the pressure but you feel that Warner may yet come out of it an even better player. I guess the only slight disappointment I have is that he didn't help me achieve my bold prediction of him scoring a century this tournament but there is still plenty of time for him to do that!
Robin Uthappa - I may have been a little bit harsh on Uthappa in a couple of assessments of his role in the team and the idea that young Shubman Gill could perhaps usurp him in his position at number 3. While time is still very much on Gill's side, the 33-year-old Uthappa showed the importance of having a player who can anchor an innings in your side. Surrounded as he is by bigger hitters of the cricket ball, Uthappa is happy to play 2nd fiddle but can still score at a good rate playing classical cricket shots as opposed to slogs and hacks.
Sanju Samson - What an inspired knock from Sanju Samson. I've written before about how much I enjoy watching this guy bat. He is one of those athletes who just makes everything he does look so easy - the dreamy timing, the effortless placement of the ball into gaps. He paced his innings to perfection in yesterday's match helping RR overcome a slow start and moving through the gears as he went on to score the tournament's first century. It was an innings that deserved to win a match but it wasn't to be.
Rishabh Pant - The mark of any good batsman is how quickly they can pick up length. I've heard some criticism that Pant is a bit of leg-side slogger and that MI bowled poorly to him. The 2nd is definitely true but you have to give credit to Pant for consistently punishing them for doing so. He reminds me of playing Ashes Cricket 2009 on the Nintendo Wii - if it's a full length then the line is irrelevant and you can just whip it over the leg-side. Pant's incredible bat speed means that when he does that it usually sails about 20 rows back.
Andre Russell - 2 matches in and Dre Russel has already demonstrated why he has a reputation as being one of the most destructive batsmen in world cricket. Both innings have been pivotal to KKR's 100% record in these early stages and he is striking at a staggering 269 per 100 balls, higher than any other batsman in the competition. Add to that the fact that he has taken 4 wickets for his team and you can see why he was one of the easier picks in this week's team. KKR's ability to keep him fit will be essential to their chances this year.
Ravi Jadeja - Mixing his miserly left-arm spin with some lower order hitting ability, Jadeja is often something of an underrated cricketer despite his many international caps for India across all 3 formats. I try and pick my teams of the week not just on individual brilliance but on balance and Jadeja's left-arm option is often very effective against right-handed batsmen. He has claimed 3 wickets to date at an economy of 4.75 (the best of any spinner). He is also a great athlete and safe pair of hands in the outfield.
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Kagiso Rabada - The South African has been mixing genuine pace with excellent skill and control to lead the DC bowling attack. On a flat Mumbai deck where all the other seamers went the distance, Rabada delivered figures of 2-23 to ensure that MI were never really in the run chase. He certainly seems to be DC's go-to man if they need a wicket and ensuring that he is fit and firing after a long season of cricket for his nation will be important if Dehli are to sneek a spot in the top 4 come the end of the round robin stages.
Harbajhan Singh - I'd suggested in an earlier blog that Singh was something of a weak link in the CSK team and that their failure to bring in some younger slow bowling talent might cost the current champions. Harbajhan proved me wrong fairly early in the competition by claiming the first wicket in this year's IPL and no less than that of Virat Kohli. Yes, the pitch in that game was very helpful but the Turbinator made excellent use of it and had batsmen half his age playing and missing at deliveries that beat both edges of the bat.
Jasprit Bumrah - To those watching the IPL it will be quite clear that Bumrah's inclusion in this week's team is based purely on this performance against RCB. In that match, he overcame a terrible performance against DC and in particularly Pant who took advantage of Bumrah consistently missing his length. However, the 19th over that he bowled against RCB in what was probably the best match of the IPL so far won his team the game even without certain umpiring decision going in their favour.
Yuzvendra Chahal - It takes some balls to be a spinner who is willing to toss a few loopy leg-breaks up against some of the biggest power hitters in the world and for 3 balls of one particular over it looked like Chahal might join that unfortunate list of bowlers who have been smashed for 6 6's in an over. However, Chahal stuck to his game plan and finally had the last laugh against Yuraj Singh before claiming 2 more wickets in a spell that swung the game in his team's advantage. He is currently the purple cap wearer with 5 wickets in the IPL 2019.
Scorum IPL Fantasy League
The good news is that we have 22 players signed up to the Scorum IPL Fantasy League. The bad news is that not all of them have signed up to Scorum and so distributing the prizes will be a little difficult
Here's the top 5 from the round just completed
Neither Karoors or Cricket Team 11 have registered on Scorum yet. I promoted this league on Twitter and Reddit so it may be that they didn't read the instructions properly. I will tweet about the league again over the weekend and give them until Monday to register an account so that I can pay them their winnings for the week. If they don't claim it by then the winnings will go to the top ranked sides who do have a Scorum account. At the moment those players are
1st place - Danak Blaster (@birjudanak) 20 SCR
2nd place - Raamesa (@raamesa) 10SCR
3rd place - Haseez (@hassan) 5SCR
Here's what @birjudanak's team looked like for the first round
Loads of batting points from the likes of Gayle, Pant and Samson all of who featured in my team of the week. Probably the only disappointment for him in that respect is that he choose the wrong batsman to captain the side but the 563.25 points he's scored in round 1 sets the bar very high and he will take some catching over the coming weeks.
Remember - You have unlimited transfers until the start of today's matches so get in there fast to alter your team
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