Cricket / devilliers

With the Easter holidays last week I didn't get a chance to post my team of the week or update on the fantasy league. The below represents the best players from the last 7 days and I will make payments to all winners in the fantasy league in the next 24 hours. After a decidedly poor start to this campaign, Shane Watson finally came to life this week with a magnificent 96 to win his side the game against SRH. Poor SRH must be sick of the sight of the man who also scored a match-winning century in last year's final! Once Watson gets going he is very hard to stop and he seems capable of simply stroking the ball well over the boundary ropes. He got into a bit of an exchange with Rashid Khan which got the blood pumping and the young Afghan certainly came off 2nd best. Could the signing by DC of Shikar Dhawan prove to be the best piece of business in this year's IPL? Furthermore, could he provide the catalyst for DC finally winning the tournament? The left-hander has been consistent throughout this year's IPL but his performances over the last couple of weeks have reached a different level and have ensured that DC are now getting well ahead of game in the powerplay. He is sitting 7th in the race for the Orange Cap and with players above him leaving for the WC he's likely to move up that list. Stripped of the Rajasthan captaincy last week, a lot of people in the game of cricket will feel good that Ajinke Rahane returned to score one of the best centuries I have seen in any form of cricket. Rahane's hundred against Dehli was a masterclass of timing and placement. Anytime the bowlers erred slightly in line and length, he was ready to punish them. It was an innings that deserved to win a game but unfortunately, RR's familiar short-comings returned and they continue to occupy bottom spot. We were treated to an AB de Villiers master-class on Wednesday. At 81-4 after 9 overs his RCB side were potentially heading towards a defeat that would effectively have ended their participation in this year's IPL. However, cometh the hour, cometh the man. Firstly he rebuilt the innings with careful shot selection and busy running, then towards the backend he exploded and along with Marcus Stoinis indulged in some fearful hitting that took RCB above the 200 mark, a total they defended with ease. Has there ever been a better white ball batsman than MS Dhoni? His ability to read the game situation, stay calm under scoreboard pressure and then execute a variety of powerful shots is 2nd to none. In many ways, I'm glad that India have stuck by him for the World Cup as you want to see the best at a showpiece tournament. At the same time, as an England supporter, it would have been a real bonus to our chances had he not been included - we saw yesterday how fragile CSK look without him in the side! Speaking of World Cup selections, here is a man whose performances over the next few weeks will be put under a fair bit of scrutiny. Dinesh Karthik hit a wonderful 97 for KKR out of a total 175 against Rajasthan on Thursday. It proved to not be enough as KKR fell to their 6th straight defeat but with Rishabh Pant also playing well this week and breathing heavily down Karthik's neck for a place in the national team it was certainly a timely return to form for a man that has struggled for runs so far this year. New Zealander Mitch Santner has proved to be a very effective squad player for CSK this year turning in a couple of stellar performances and allowing the defending champions to rest and rotate their ageing squad. In a game where many of the usual suspects weren't able to have an impact with the ball, it was Santander who returned to dismiss MI captain Rohit Sharma and Evan Lewis. Despite the top order then failing Santner fought on to give his side hope in the run chase but ultimately he ran out of partners. There is a thought that Buvi Kumar's form of late has been affected by his need to captain the side in Kane Williamson's absence. In T20 cricket with so much going on at such a fast pace, it is perhaps better to let the bowlers focus on delivering their key skills as opposed to the team's performance in general. While Shane Watson related chaos reigned at CSK, Buvi delivered figures of 1-18 and against KKR he took 2-35 including the prize wicket of Andre Russell who was beginning to look menacing. With Kagiso Rabada's departure to join up with the South Africa World Cup squad, there is a very obvious hole in Dehli's bowling attack which might be filled in part by Nepal's young spinning prodigy Sandeep Lamichhane. Certainly, on the slower, lower decks of the Capitals home ground, Lamichhane may prove just the type of wicket-taker that DC need to continue their recent momentum towards the playoffs. Lamichhane demonstrated as much by taking the prize wickets of KL Rahul and Chris Gayle in DC's victory over KXIP this week. Varun Aaron has been little more than a spectator as Rajasthan Royals have struggled in this year's tournament but as they look to build for next season perhaps they need to take his pace and wicket taking ability into consideration. Certainly, one of the key issues for RR has been getting breakthroughs upfront with Kulkarni & Unadkat striking at less than a wicket a game the pressure has been on Archer and Gopal to turn things around. Aaron knocked over both KKR openers in the PP last week to set-up victory. It was an interesting call to see Lasith Malinga move out of his coaching role at Mumbai Indians and back into playing but the decision has proved to be a highly successful one with Malinga having the 2nd best Strike-Rate in this year's competition. In last nights match against CSK he opened the bowling and dismissed Shane Watson in the first over before returning to finish off the job after CSK threatened to put together a late charge for victory. . Do you agree with the above selections? Who would you have in your IPL team of the week?