The Cricketer looks back on the fifth week of the 17th edition of the Indian Premier League, picking out the eye-catching moments as the competition builds pace
With just one defeat in their eight group matches, Rajasthan Royals have one foot in the playoffs after extending their winning run to three games.
They only played once in week five but secured a comfortable win over Mumbai Indians by nine wickets.
Royals hold a four-point lead with six to go over a chasing pack of three all tied on 10 - Kolkata Knight Riders, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Lucknow Super Giants.
But with all three sides having suffered three losses already, the chasm between the leaders and the rest is starting to show.
Three sides are tied on eight points with defending champions Chennai Super Kings perhaps the best placed, despite losing their last two, with a game in hand over Delhi Capitals and Gujarat Titans.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru ended their six-match losing streak against Sunrisers but they remain rooted to the foot of the table.
Virat Kohli remains the leading run-scorer with 430 at 61.42, while Hashal Patel is the top wicker-taker with 14 at 23.28.
Rajasthan Royals have pulled away at the top (ARUN SANKAR/AFP via Getty Images)
Consistent with a tournament dominated by run-scoring, this was an improved week with the bat for England's T20 World Cup hopefuls.
There were fifties for Phil Salt (v Punjab Kings), Will Jacks (v KKR), a 35 for Jos Buttler and 30 for Moeen Ali.
But no performance would have satisfied Matthew Mott more than Jonny Bairstow's unbeaten 108 from 48 balls to lead Kings to victory over KKR on Friday (April 26).
It was the quickest by an Englishman in the IPL, eclipsing his own record of 52 deliveries set in 2019.
The Yorkshireman had not passed 42 in the competition and had even been dropped such was his desperate run of form.
With the ball, though there were few successes Liam Livingstone delivered 2 for 19 from his four overs against Titans but it came in a three-wicket defeat.
Phil Salt's encouraging IPL continues (AFP via Getty Images)
Punjab Kings completed the highest successful chase in T20 history by reaching 262 against KKR at Eden Gardens, largely down to the heroics of Bairstow and Shashank Singh, who crushed 68 in just 28 balls.
The match included 42 sixes, the most in a single T20, the second-most runs in a 20-over game of 523 and the Kings' seventh successful chase of 200 or more.
Given the dominance of the bat, it was a week to cherish great bowling performances.
Andre Russell and Mitchell Starc bowled KKR to a one-run victory over RCB; Sai Kishore took 4 for 33 to help beat Kings and Sandeep Sharma collected the tournament's third five-for against MI.
"Cricket has turned to baseball isn't it?" Sam Curran reflected after Kings' record-breaking clash with KKR - a sentence which defines the discourse around this year's IPL.
This season's 17th edition appears to have submitted to the idea that, above all, enormous hitting is this format's most valuable element.
Mitchell Marsh has been ruled out of the remainder of the IPL - but is expected to be fit for the T20 World Cup (SAJJAD HUSSAIN/AFP via Getty Images)
From flat pitches, shorter boundaries and more ambitious batters, it appears everything is tuned to encourage batters to be more aggressive than ever before.
Writing for the BBC, Ayaz Memon put it best when he said: "T20 skill sets and mindsets have shifted dramatically from the orthodox and continue to evolve. This demands players across all departments to be dynamic, proactive, and creative.
"But the balance between bat and ball has to tend towards equal if T20 is not to become a fusion of golf and baseball masquerading as cricket."
On a different note, this week saw the withdrawal of Mitchell Marsh due to injury.
But the allrounder is expected to captain Australia at June's T20 World Cup which according to Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting won't "be an issue".
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