It was another eventful day at the business end of this year’s IPL. In the first match of Saturday’s doubleheader, Rajasthan Royals beat Punjab Kings by 6 wickets at Wankhede. Mayank Agarwal won the toss and elected to bat first, as most teams are doing in the afternoon games. Jonny Bairstow inspired PBKS to get a great start.

It was a great batting effort from PBKS to post 189 on the board. Royals had Yashasvi back as an opener again and the youngster smashed a 41 ball 68 on his return to the starting lineup. Shimron Hetmyer finished the game in style for the Royals to win it with 2 balls left.

Let’s look at the talking points from the first IPL match on Saturday–

Yuzvendra Chahal best of the rest in IPL 2022

Jonny Bairstow was sent to open once again and finally, he was looked at in some rhythm. The English wicketkeeper-batsman smashed his first fifty in this year’s IPL and gave PBKS a great start. But it was a master spinner at the other end who stopped his proceedings. In a game where almost every other Royals bowler went for plenty, Chahal was once again a class apart. He picked up dangerous Rajapaksa, Agarwal and a well set Bairstow in the middle overs.

A happy come back for Yashasvi Jaiswal

The youngster was retained by the Royals but he had a horror start to this campaign. But after losing a couple of games, the Royals bring him back to open the batting with Buttler and the decision paid off. He scored a brilliant 68 off 41 balls to set the platform for his team to chase the big total.

Image Credits: TV9 Bharatvarsh

In the second game, Lucknow Super Giants beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 75 runs to go top of the IPL standings. It was complete domination from KL Rahul’s side at MCA stadium. Shreyas Iyer won the toss and elected to field on a dry pitch. Apart from winning the toss, nothing went in favour of the Knights. LSG post a massive total of 176 which was above the par score on that surface. In reply, KKR lost wickets at regular intervals to lose it by a huge margin.

Let’s look at the talking points from the second match–

QDK and Hooda’s 71 run partnership

After losing KL Rahul for nothing in the first over, LSG opener Quinton De Kock scored a well made 50 off 29 balls. Deepak Hooda gave him brilliant support as well with a 27 ball 41. Their 71 run stand was crucial for LSG to post a big total.

30 runs off Shivam Mavi’s over

KKR’s 7.5 Cr buy Shivam Mavi has been one of the flops this season. Stoinis and Holder smashed him for 5 sixes in the 19^th over to take LSG’s score to 176.

KKR batting collapse

Chasing down 177 on a dry and slow surface was not to be easy for any team and for KKR, it was always a bit tougher because of the form of their top order. No one apart from Ander Russell could stand in front of a quality LSG bowling attack, which eventually got all out for 101 in just 14.3 overs.

At this business end of the tournament, almost all the teams in the mid-table are desperate for 2 points. It was a couple of dominant one-sided games on Sunday in the Indian Premier League. Sunrisers Hyderabad faced another comprehensive defeat, this time against RCB. Faf du Plessis won the toss and elected to bat in the afternoon match at the Wankhede.

The RCB skipper led from the front scoring 73 not out to help them post 192/3. Wanindu Hasaranga’s 5 wickets haul restricted SRH to only 125 to help his team win by 67 runs.

Let’s look at the talking points from the first game on Sunday–

Virat Kohli’s yet another IPL golden duck

It has been a nightmare season for the former RCB captain. Kohli got out in the very first ball of J. Suchith. It was his second golden duck in as many games against SRH this season, third overall.

Captain’s knock from Faf Du Plessis

After Virat Kohli got out for his third golden duck this season, RCB did not hold back. Faf looked at his best to build a 105 runs partnership with Rajat Patidar. The South African smashed 8 fours and 2 sixes for his unbeaten 73.

Wanindu Hasaranga’s 5-fer in the IPL

The Sri Lankan mystery spinner rattled the SRH middle order. In four overs he picked up 5 wickets and only gave away 18 runs. What an asset he has been for the RCB bowling attack.

In the second match, CSK got a dominated 91 run win over Delhi Capitals. MS Dhoni’s side needs to win every match remaining to have a chance to qualify for the playoffs. Rishabh Pant won the toss and sent CSK to bat first. The defending champions scored 208, courtesy of Devon Conway’s 87 off 49 balls. On the other hand, it was a batting collapse from Delhi as they bundled out for 117. This huge win helped CSK to climb up a position in the table with a healthy net run rate.

Let’s look at the talking points from the second match in the IPL this Sunday-

Devon Conway’s 87

CSK have missed Faf Du Plessis very much in this tournament. However, Conway has been able to put on some decent show replacing him in the last few innings. The Kiwi opener smashed a brilliant 87 off 49 balls. It was his second 80+ score in this year’s tournament.

Anrich Nortje picked up three

Delhi Capitals retained the South African pacer this season releasing Kagiso Rabada. Nortje finally showed some glimpse of his last season’s form picking up three wickets against CSK. It was his best figure in this IPL.

CSK bowling too strong for Delhi in IPL 2022

Chasing 209 was never going to be easy at DY Patil stadium. Delhi needed a strong opening partnership in the absence of Prithwi Shaw but lost early wickets. They failed to build partnerships throughout their innings and eventually got all out for 117. After this massive defeat, DC need three wins from their next three games to qualify for the playoffs.