IPL 2019, Standout player, biggest disappointment, best quote – Hetmyer and Gurkeerat, the Bengaluru weather, and Rohit Sharma feature in week 6 wrap

The league stage has been dusted. The four contenders for the IPL 2019 Playoffs have chosen themselves after six weeks of gruel. With just four matches – albeit the most important ones in the tournament – left in the tournament, let us have a look at how the past week went.

Standout players – Hetmyer and Gurkeerat

While Shimron Hetmyer was named Player of the Match, it is difficult to choose one over the other in a weekly roundup. Hetmyer returned into Royal Challengers Bangalore for their final match, over a month after he was dropped for scoring 23 runs in 5 innings. Gurkeerat Singh, on the other hand, was playing his second match of the tournament.

Bangalore fans had probably switched off their television sets after Bangalore were reduced to 20/3 (Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers included) in pursuit of 176, but Hetmyer (75 in 47 balls) and Gurkeerat (65 in 48) then added 144 – RCB’s highest partnership of the tournament – to guide their team to an easy win.

Standout moment – Gopal’s high-profile hat-trick

There is little a leg-spinner can do against the usual carnage a 5-over match, especially if he is asked to bowl immediately after the first over goes for 23. But Shreyas Gopal responded with a hat-trick with his last three balls, making Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, and Marcus Stoinis mistime their strokes against his wiles.

Biggest disappointment – the Bengaluru weather

Given the way the tournament panned out, a win at Chinnaswamy would have kept the winner (Bangalore or Rajasthan Royals) in the hunt for a Playoffs berth, but only 50 balls could be bowled. Rajasthan were probably the favourites when play was called off (they needed 22 in 10 balls with 9 wickets standing).

Feature of the tournament – the points table

For the first time in history did a team (Sunrisers Hyderabad) qualify for the Playoffs with only 12 points. For the first time did a team come last (Bangalore) with only 11. In fact, a solitary point separated the fourth- and eighth-placed sides.

On the other hand, the top three teams finished with the same number of points. This has been, without a doubt, the most keenly contested IPL ever.

Standout quote – Rohit Sharma

“It was nice to get some runs today, but she was sleeping.”
— Samaira Sharma isn’t too keen on watch her father bat