The 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) came to an abrupt halt, as the BCCI and the IPL governing council had to postpone the tournament after multiple cases of COVID-19 were found in the team bio-bubbles.
Four players Varun Chakravarthy and Sandeep Warrier of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Amit Mishra of Delhi Capitals (DC), and Wriddhiman Saha of Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) bowling coach L Balaji and batting coach Michael Hussey and the team bus cleaner tested positive for the Coronavirus.
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All of this proved to be too much for the BCCI to carry on with the tournament and postponed it with immediate effect on May 4, 2021, with the possibility of the remainder of matches being played later.
The BCCI is aiming to have the remainder of the tournament later this year and a possible window might be in the month of September.
Despite all of the problems and hurdles, BCCI managed to host the tournament in India, before everything deteriorated quickly and the IPL 2021 saw 29 matches being played before it was halted mid-way.
Delhi Capitals (DC) stood at the no.1 spot with 12 points, while CSK and RCB are at no.2 and 3 spots respectively with 10 points each.
The tournament also saw some amazing batting and bowling performances throughout and keeping this in mind, Team COC presents to you the Best XI of the IPL 2021’s first half.
Here is the COC Best XI from the first half of IPL 2021
The openers for the best XI from the first half of the IPL 2021 can only be the Delhi Capitals’ duo of Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw. Dhawan topped the batting charts with 380 runs in 8 matches with the highest score of 92 at a strike rate of 134.27.
He was brutal in his batting and complemented Prithvi Shaw well at the other hand, Shaw threw caution to the wind and enjoyed himself in the middle. He made 308 runs in 8 matches with the best of 82 at a strike rate of 166.48.
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Moeen Ali of Chennai Super Kings was utilized at no.3 spot by MS Dhoni and it proved to be quite useful as he made 206 runs in 6 matches at a strike rate of 157.25 and highest score of 58. He also contributed with the ball, picking 5 wickets with the best of 3/7.
Glenn Maxwell had resurgence of sorts in IPL while playing for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), as he batted with freedom, scoring 223 runs in 7 matches with the best of 78 and strike rate of 144.80. He hit 2 half-centuries as well.
Following him in the Best XI of the first half of the IPL 2021, is none other than AB de Villiers, who dug RCB out of a couple of big holes thanks to his amazing finishing abilities. He made 207 runs in 7 matches with the best of 76* at a strike rate of 164.28.
He is not the only finisher in the best IPL 2021 XI of the first half. He will be accompanied by Ravindra Jadeja of CSK and Rishabh Pant of DC. In his first season as captain of the Delhi Capitals, Pant was impressive with his leadership thus far and with the bat as well.
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He made 213 runs in 8 matches with a best of 58* at a strike rate of 131.48 and kept brilliantly as well.
However, the IPL 2021’s first half belonged to Ravindra Jadeja, who shined with both the bat and the ball. He made 131 runs in 7 matches with a strike rate of 161.72 and a best of 62*.
His highlight knock came against RCB when he smoked Harshal Patel for 5 sixes in the last over, taking a total of 37 runs in the 20th over of the match, the joint-most in any IPL match. He also picked 6 wickets in 7 matches with a best of 3/13.
Sunrisers Hyderabad's abysmal outing in IPL 2021 shows them lying at the last spot on the points table with 6 losses in 7 matches played.
However, Rashid Khan proved to be the only constantly good thing for them, as he picked 10 wickets in 7 matches with a best of 3/36 at an economy of 6.14. As all other SRH bowlers failed, Rashid showed why he is a true gem of the game.
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RCB’s Harshal Patel ended with the purple cap for the most wickets when the IPL 2021 was postponed with 17 wickets in 7 matches.
This included the very first five-wicket haul against the Mumbai Indians (MI) in IPL history. His best bowling was 5/27 at an economy of 9.17, bowling exclusively at the death.
Deepak Chahar of CSK bowled beautifully with the new ball and extracted whatever swing and seam were present for the bowlers.
He picked 8 wickets in 7 matches with a best of 4/13, which came against the Punjab Kings, who were routed for just 106/8 in 20 overs. Chahar also took 4/29 against the Kolkata Knight Riders as well.
Avesh Khan has proved to be a great asset for the Delhi Capitals in the IPL 2021. He picked 14 wickets in 8 matches at an economy of 7.70 and best bowling figures of 3/32. He picked wickets at the start and bowled at a good speed, utilizing the bouncers freely.
Though it remains to be seen when the IPL 2021 restarts, these 11 performers proved to be the best in the first half of the tournament.
Here is the COC Best XI from the first half of IPL 2021:
Shikhar Dhawan (DC), Prithvi Shaw (DC), Moeen Ali (CSK), Glenn Maxwell (RCB), AB de Villiers (RCB), Rishabh Pant (DC- C&WK), Ravindra Jadeja (CSK), Rashid Khan (SRH), Harshal Patel (RCB), Deepak Chahar (CSK), Avesh Khan (DC)
