Kagiso Rabada’s tidy burst at Chepauk on Sunday tightened the race for the Purple Cap and underlined a curious, bowler-friendly day in this year’s IPL. Across the two fixtures, 26 wickets fell and there was even time for a Super Over – not the sort of script many expected when temperatures, and usually totals, rise in late April.
First, the headline numbers. Rabada’s 3 for 25 from four overs steered Gujarat Titans past Chennai Super Kings by eight wickets and moved the South Africa quick to 13 wickets in eight outings, level in third place with Lucknow’s Mosharraf Sheikh. Only CSK’s Anshul Kamboj and Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Eshan Malinga, both on 14, are ahead for now.
The surface helped. Ground staff, wary of the strip breaking up in the oppressive heat, are thought to have left a touch too much moisture in the pitch. The ball kissed that dampness, nipped, and – because Rabada was clocking 145 kph regularly – bounced awkwardly. Dale Steyn, watching from the television studio, liked what he saw, while still wanting more. Rabada, he said, “can really stand up” this season, but is still “searching” for his yorker, a ball Steyn feels has gone missing from the armoury.
If the Purple Cap tussle tightened, the Orange Cap table was turned upside-down within a few evening hours. Saturday had begun with Virat Kohli on top; by Sunday night he had slipped to fifth on 328 runs. The shuffle started in Delhi, where KL Rahul’s unbeaten 152 – now the highest T20 score by an Indian – propelled him to 357 runs at a very healthy clip. He held the cap for barely 90 minutes.
In Jaipur, 19-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi thumped a 37-ball 103 in Rajasthan Royals’ ultimately unsuccessful defence of 229. He, too, reached 357 runs but pinched the cap from Rahul thanks to a superior strike-rate. Then, in the late game, Abhishek Sharma’s brisk 57 from 29 balls during Sunrisers’ chase vaulted him to 380 runs and finally put a little daylight – 23 runs, to be precise – between first and second.
Heinrich Klaasen’s collected 29 in the same chase nudged him to 349 runs, good enough for fourth, sandwiched between Sooryavanshi and the sliding Kohli. Shubman Gill lurks on 330.
Other markers continue to simmer. Andre Russell still boasts the tournament’s best strike-rate, while Mumbai’s Tilak Varma leads the fielders with nine catches. David Warner, despite a modest overall tally, has four 50-plus scores – proof that numbers only tell part of any IPL story.
Back to Rabada, though. Steyn’s gentle needle aside, the Titans camp will be satisfied with their spearhead’s rhythm. If the yorker does re-emerge, as the man himself keeps hinting, the Purple Cap table may look very different, very soon.
