We wait over 10 months for the start of each IPL season and this time was no different, with cricket fans counting down each day, waiting for the start of IPL 2017, which began on 5th April 2017 and is in full flow at the moment. This year, the BCCI and the IPL committee decided to have 8 different opening ceremonies at the 8 different venues of IPL 2017 so there are still a couple of opening ceremonies pending, even though we are over a week into the tournament.
Let's have a quick run through of the tournament and what has happened in this first week of the tenth edition of the Indian Premier League so far:
Highest team total:
Every year, the IPL always begins with a blast and the 2017 season was no different. Who will forget the first game of the inaugural IPL where Brendon McCullum started the season with an unbeaten 158? This year, Sunrisers Hyderabad started the season with a bang - 207/4, and it is the highest score so far after 10 games. Yuvraj Singh and Moises Henriques scored fifties in that game.
Lowest team total:
Game 6 of the IPL and it was a Gujarat Lions side that threatened to blast big scores of 200+, since they were sporting a team of four foreign batsmen - Jaosn Roy, Brendon McCullum, Aaron Finch and Dwayne Smith. Not to forget, the side also has IPL's highest run scorer Suresh Raina and also an in-form Dinesh Karthik. However, they didn't end up scoring any high scores, but currently have the lowest score of IPL 2017 - 135/7 against SRH.
Highest individual score:
No, it wasn't any of the big names or star players that scored the first century of IPL 2017. While Chris Lynn scored an unbeaten 93 and ABD scored an unbeaten 89 in what probably was one of his best innings at the IPL, it was the young batsman from Kerala, Sanju Samson, who scored the first century of IPL 10 - 102(63) - and this is the current highest score of this season.
Best bowling performance:
Very surprisingly, captain of Delhi Daredevils Zaheer Khan has kept himself very fit, even though he hasn't played any competitive cricket since IPL 2016. Not only has he been fit, but has led the team well and also bowled his variations perfectly, getting him match returns of 3/20 in DD's first win of the season. Another performer has been Afghani leg spinner Rashid, who picked up 3/19 in his second game and also wore the Purple Cap for a short while. However, the best figures so far have been Amit Mishra's 3/11 against Pune and we expect him to keep up the wicket taking in this full tournament.
Points table:
Sunrisers Hyderabad head straight to the top of the table, with two wins in their first two games. They are a balanced squad and this was certainly expected from them. However, Kings XI Punjab also started pretty confidently, with two wins from their two matches and since SRH lost their third game, Punjab went up on a higher Net Run Rate, and they are the current table toppers. For a team that has been the bottom of the points table over the past couple of years, this is a great start to their IPL 2017 campaign.
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