IPL 2010: The best batsman & bowler; Aloke Gupte’s April 5 roundup

A little crinkle this week - i have included tonight's slightly bizarre game (A Deccan Fiasco more than a Royal Comeback) in the statistics. The more meaningful point to raise though that the IPL has cranked up the fever a few notches as we move into the home stretch!
Batting

The double "Vijays" inspired by Murli (not the world's highest wicket taker) for the Super Kings took the IPL by storm this week. We shall now examine whether he and the other movers and shakers have made any impact to our honours roll.
Our very own (Mumbai) Indian (and proud Maharashtrian) Idol trailed Kallis by 7 runs last week, as they rounded up in the following order: Kallis, Sachin, Yusuf, Hayden, Sehwag, Bopara, Raina, Ojha, Pandey, Uthappa

Runs
#1 Kallis 425
#2 Sachin 349
#3 N Ojha 308
#4 Vijay 300
#5 Yusuf 283
#6 Dada 277
#7 Hayden 261
#8 Sehwag 260
#9 Rohit Sharma 258
#10 S Tiwary 250
Yes. I know. Bear with me for just a little bit. I own up to my error from last week ("Kallis retains his lead, for the last time, i think"). The South African Grizzly has not only retained his lead but has stretched it to an impressive 76 (albeit having played 1 game more than the Maestro). I will dwell more on the "Kallis Konundrum" a little later.
As you can see, we have a lot to talk about this week -
1. THE Super King. Murli Vijay, take a bow. The statistics are mind boggling.
You know his last 3 knocks read 42(28), 78(38) and 127(56).
You know the last 2 contained an unimaginable 17 sixes (holds the IPL record for most 6s in a game - 11, beating Yusuf's 9).
Do You Know he has the highest strike rate amongst ALL 10 names you see up here (the 3rd highest overall amongst batsmen who scored 150+)??
The most remarkable thing is - You would have probably been a billionaire (well, a millionaire at the least if you bet a 100 greenbacks on Vijay storming into this company!). Naman Ojha is another get rich story (if you did bet on him, that is)
2. Time to get 'Senti'. Dada!! His knock against Bangalore was excellent and catapults him (along with the other half century) into #6. Impressive, indeed. I can hear the nay-sayers (and yes his strike rate even after that knock is 113) but we have to admit that he led KKR to an important win last week under pressure and  merits the entry more than Hayden and Sehwag, who  stay in due to only reasonable performances and little inspiration (and compared to Dada, no personal pressure). He will probably not be around here next week so lets cheer this while we can!
3. The Kallis 'Konundrum'. GT has been analyzing the Bangalore story in detail & Kallis's IPL performance in particular and i feel (not yet, but soon) the question of Kallis is going to give old Jumbo a headache. It sounds (and probably is) churlish to say this about the holder of the Orange Cap for the 3rd straight week but let me put forward my case.
The Challengers played 3 games this week and Kallis made two half-centuries (off 40 odd balls each time) - Bangalore lost both games. They won when he was out early and KP had the time to play a big knock (with support from the gang). In the strike rate business, he is 25th amongst batsmen who have scored 150+ (incredibly his opening partner till last but 1 game was slower!). With Pietersen, Taylor, Steyn, White and Boucher as the other internationals, Bangalore has a tough selection to make before every game.
As long as (a) Kallis keeps making runs (b) it is the league stage, i think RCB will persist with him - he bowls (reasonably) and provides stability for the big hitters.
However, in the semi-final, would you risk playing him and his getting 50 off 40 and keep White or Taylor or Boucher or Steyn out? Let me know.
For the strike rate hungry (batsmen >150 runs): #1 Gilchrist (for the 3rd week in a row, like Kallis), #2 Uthappa, #3 Vijay, #4 Yusuf #5 Sehwag, #6 Irfan #7 Warner #8 Rayudu #9 Albie and #10 Yuvi. A bit of shake up with Vijay and #s 7-10 being new entrants. The notable ones that have slipped out are the Maestro and Dhoni (does not qualify on runs scored). Interestingly, both their teams had a happy week. Gilchrist, on the other hand needs to do a lot more (including select the right team) to resurrect the fortunes of the Chargers.

Batsman of the IPL (not on 'so far' basis this time, but only this week): Murli Vijay (You would not have won too much on that bet!). Where will he go from here? Flash in the pan?

Bowling

A very interesting week for the 'pie chuckers', including a change in the owner of the Purple cap. But first a quick snapshot of last week's men:
Wickets: Murli, Tait, Vaas, Bhajji, Vinay, Mishra, P Ojha, Praveen, Balaji, Symonds
Eco rate: Kumble, Kartik, Murli, Yusuf, Vaas, Yuvi, Nannes, Malinga, Trivedi, Symonds
One of my observations last week was "The 2nd Spinner". I spoke about why both Amit Mishra and Pragyan Ojha will be perplexed about Chawla's selection ahead of them in the Indian team. You can safely say that isnt going to be only them that are perplexed this week.
Wickets
#1 Mishra 14 (6.94)
#2 Ojha 13 (8.20)
#3 Murli 12 (6.91)
#4 Malinga 11 (6.62)
#5 Zaheer 11 (7.48)
#6 Bhajji 10 (6.78)
#7 Vinay 10 (8.19)
#8 Warne 10 (7.13)
#9 Tait 10 (8.47)
#10 RP Singh 9 (8.70)
India's 3rd & 4th choice spinners (God knows which is which) lead the list this week! Its is no fluke either as both were in the mix last week. Chawla is ranked 33rd on this scale - are you confused too? or angry?! Even poor Jakati who has played 4 games is ahead.
Eco Rates
#1 Kumble 5.94 (8)
#2 Nannes 6.51 (6)
#3 Kartik 6.51 (6)
#4 Malinga 6.62 (11)
#5 Vaas 6.66 (8)
#6 Yuvi 6.71 (3)
#7 Bhajji 6.78 (10)
#8 Murli 6.91 (12)
#9 Mishra 6.94 (10)
#10 Trivedi 7.09 (6)
Jumbo tops again. Should he be the 2nd spinner? ;)
The benefits of not playing are evident here - both Nannes and Vaas have not played this week (through no fault of theirs, injury and poor selection respectively) and you might argue have benefitted in the eco rates race! Nannes certainly has - moving from 7th last week to 2nd, and Vaas retains his #5 slot. Interesting eh?
Observations:
1. A Mumbai Story. We know the batting relies on the Maestro - but is that the only reason the Indians are top of the table? We've all known the answer is NO. The bowling stats after this week prove this - Slinga, Zak & Bhajji all occupy slots amongst the wicket takers and Slinga and Bhajji are in the eco rates mix. Slinga is close to a top 3 position in both - that really is outstanding as we have seen this is difficult to achieve (so far only Murli had and he is now at 8th in eco rates). This is a bowling pack if there ever has been one in the IPL atleast.
2. The Legend & The Brat. Two men that dominate headlines for all sorts of reasons. Could they just be on the verge of magic in the IPL?
- Shane Keith Warne has always been a magician and his bag of tricks has just started to open up. After an ordinary start (poor by his standards), the fingers have warmed up and so has the heart. 8th amongst wickets and 12th on eco rates, he could be on the way to a top 10 finish on both. The Royals will then certainly make the semis (remember, the other Shane is also on fire).
- Yuvraj Singh has supposedly had a terrible IPL. Lost the captaincy, coming back from injury, poor form, an unhappy boss in Ms. Zinta (did you think i was talking about Sanga??), a woeful start to the season and now rumors of rifts. He certainly has not scored what Punjab expect and need him to, but despite that he is in the top 10 on strike rates (having qualified on my minimum runs criteria) and on eco rates (he bowls a fair bit too). With his batting looking ominous in the last 2 games - he could yet leave this IPL with a much better frame of mind than when he entered. That will not cure Punjab's ills (they were my 'fly' pick), but could be critical for India in the Carribbean.
Bowler of the IPL (so far): Slinga. Despite the stats and despite Murli, i think we all wanted this to be the case from very early on in the IPL!
BEST will be back...