The Cricketer looks back on the seventh week of the 17th edition of the Indian Premier League, picking out the eye-catching moments as the competition builds pace
Kolkata Knight Riders have overtaken Rajasthan Royals at the top of the IPL table with three games to play.
Both sides have won eight of their 11 matches and sit four points clear of fifth-placed Delhi Capitals, but KKR have a superior net run rate. The Royals have suffered an untimely dip in form, losing their past two matches, most recently a 20-run defeat at the hands of the playoff-chasing Capitals.
Sunrisers Hyderabad and Chennai Super Kings occupy the remaining slots in the top four. CSK are level on points with Delhi Capitals (fifth) and Lucknow Super Giants (sixth) but are ahead on net run rate and have a game in hand.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru have kept their playoff hopes alive with victories over Gujarat Titans (four wickets) and Punjab Kings (60 runs). They are now unbeaten in four matches and just two points behind CSK.
Speaking of the Titans, their hopes of reaching a third successive final are hanging by a thread, with that defeat to RCB extending their winless run to three matches. They sit bottom of the table.
Mumbai Indians, meanwhile, ended their four-match winless streak with a seven-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad but have already been eliminated from the playoff race, as have Punjab Kings.
Kolkata Knight Riders are top of the IPL [AFP/Getty Images]
It was a quiet for the IPL's English contingent, with Phil Salt's 14-ball 32 for KKR against Lucknow Super Giants probably the pick of the performances.
Jos Buttler (19), Jonny Bairstow (7 and 27), Sam Curran (7 and 22), Moeen Ali (17), and Will Jacks (1 and 12) were all light on runs while Curran and CSK's Richard Gleeson both bowled expensive spells.
Liam Livingstone made his first appearance for Punjab Kings since April 21, conceding 28 runs from three overs and registering a two-ball duck against RCB.
Reece Topley and Luke Wood were absent for RCB and Mumbai Indians, respectively, while Tom Curran, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, and Chris Woakes are still yet to feature in the 2024 tournament.
It was a quiet week for the IPL's English contingent [Arun Sankar/Getty Images]
Sunil Narine has been in excellent form with bat and ball throughout this IPL and produced a player of the match-winning performance against Lucknow Super Giants in week seven.
Opening the batting alongside England's Salt, he blasted 81 runs off just 39 deliveries, including six fours and seven sixes, to power KKR to 235 for 6.
He then produced the most economical bowling performance across either team, conceding just 22 runs from his four overs and taking the wicket of Ayush Badoni.
He has now scored 461 runs at a strike rate of 183.66 (one century, three fifties) and taken 14 wickets with an economy of 6.61 in 11 matches.
Virat Kohli and Harshal Patel sit top of the batting and bowling charts [Surjeet Yadav/Getty Images]
Virat Kohli has returned to the top of the batting charts thanks to knocks of 42 (Gujarat Titans) and 92 (Punjab Kings) in week seven. He has passed fifty in three of his past four innings for RCB and has 634 runs, including one century and five half-centuries, at a strike rate of 153.51 from 12 matches. Ruturaj Gaikwad (CSK, 541 runs) and Travis Head (Sunrisers, 533 runs) sit second and third, respectively.
With the ball, Harshal Patel (Punjab Kings) has taken a tournament-leading 20 wickets, including back-to-back three-fors. Jasprit Bumrah is hot on his heels, with 18 wickets and an impressive 6.90 economy.
BCCI secretary Jay Shah has addressed the controversial impact player rule, stating the innovation is not a "permanent" addition to the tournament but also won't be shelved without consultation.
The rule, which allows each team to bring in one substitute player at any point during the match, has been cited as a contributing factor in the number of high team totals during the 2024 tournament. So far, teams have passed 250 runs in an innings on eight occasions.
KKR bowler, Mitchell Starc, said: "Everyone gets to bat a lot deeper having a batting and a bowling XI. There's a lot made of that rule throughout the tournament and there's been a lot of high scores, which is the nature of the wickets and the grounds we play on here. When you have batters and batting allrounders come in at Nos.8 or 9, it's a long batting line-up."
According to Shah, a decision on the rule's future will be made after June's Men's T20 World Cup.
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