The 12th season of Indian Premier League has gone past its halfway stage as almost every team has played atleast eight matches. This has seen Chennai Super Kings reign supreme at the top of the points table with 14 points, while Mumbai Indians are at the second place with 12 points. Delhi Capitals and Kings XI Punjab are at 3 and 4 respectively with 10 points each.
Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore are at the bottom of the points table with 4 and 2 points respectively. No matter where the teams stand in the points table, many of the players have contributed in a way to their respective team’s success or even in the wins the teams have registered in the first half of the IPL 2019.
Team COC has taken notice of such performances and compiled a list of the Most Valuable Player (MVP) from each of the eight franchises.
Chennai Super Kings – Imran Tahir
Imran Tahir has taken 15 wickets in 9 matches at an economy of 5.67 and the best bowling figure of 4/27. Tahir has picked wickets regularly whenever MS Dhoni has thrown the ball to him and has been especially deadly at the turning pitch of MA Chidambaram Stadium. Tahir has been so effective that he is the only spinner to play every match for CSK despite Harbhajan Singh picking 7 wickets in his appearances.
Kolkata Knight Riders- Andre Russell All of Kolkata Knight Riders’ batting has been dependent on just one man, Andre Russell. He has made 312 runs with 2 fifties and at one time, had four scores of over 40 on a trot. Russell’s strike rate of 213.69 and the fact that he has hit 30 sixes has been just tremendous. Russell has single-handedly won them atleast 3 matches, including one against RCB, when KKR needed over 50 runs in the last three overs.
Delhi Capitals- Kagiso Rabada Though Shikhar Dhawan and Shreyas Iyer have been amongst runs for Delhi Capitals in their first IPL season in their new garb, it is Kagiso Rabada who has been the MVP for them. The express South African pace bowler has picked 19 wickets in 9 matches with the best bowling of 4/21 and currently holds the Purple cap for most wickets in IPL 2019. His most valuable performance came against KKR when he defended 11 runs against a red-hot Andre Russell and co in the super over.
Royal Challengers Bangalore- Yuzvendra Chahal Royal Challengers Bangalore, poor RCB. They have won just one match out of eight played and have lost seven, with six of those losses coming on a trot, including two humiliating defeats, one against CSK in the IPL 2019 opener, when they were bowled out for 70 and one against SRH, when they lost 6 wickets for 30 odd runs chasing over 230 runs. However, despite their batting and fast bowling failing massively, Yuzvendra Chahal has shined brightly with 13 wickets in 9 matches with the best bowling figures of 4/38 at an economy of 7.03. Chahal has been amazing for a team that has got nothing going for them.
Kings XI Punjab- KL Rahul
KL Rahul has scored 387 runs in 9 matches with his first IPL century and at a strike rate of 127.72 and an average of 64.50. He has also scored four half-centuries, hitting 30 fours and 13 sixes to go with his runs. KXIP are at the fourth spot in the points table with 10 points and Rahul has had a big role in this along with captain R Ashwin.
Mumbai Indians- Hardik Pandya Though Hardik Pandya has scored just 218 runs in 9 matches, these runs have come at a strike rate of 194.64 and he has hit 16 sixes and 16 fours in those innings. He has been solely responsible for rescuing MI as their middle order batsmen have been failing with alarming regularity. Pandya has played some scintillating cameos of which, his brief innings against RCB and recently against DC come to mind.
Sunrisers Hyderabad- David Warner
The Orange Cap holder of IPL 2019, Sunrisers Hyderabad’s David Warner has made a triumphant comeback to the Indian Premier League in 2019 after being banned from the 2018 edition. Warner has scored 450 runs at a strike rate of 142.16 and with an average of 75.00. He has hit one century, his fourth overall in IPL and five half-centuries.
Rajasthan Royals- Jos Buttler The only good thing that has gone in Rajasthan Royals’ favor has been their decision of opening with England’s Jos Buttler. He has scored 311 runs with 3 fifties and a best score of 89, coming in a brilliant win over MI in Wankhede. His strike rate of 151.70 is right up there with the best hitters in the league and though the team is not doing well, Buttler’s form bodes well for England as World Cup approaches.