The IPL Pulse

(Andre) Russell Mania floors SRH. ©BCCI/IPL
Follow this space for byte-sized daily briefings on IPL 2022

Sunday, May 15
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Last night in IPL 2022

Andre Russell, and KKR, subjected SRH to their fifth straight defeat. Rahane punctuated his 24-ball knock of a lot of dots and a few singles with three sixes, Nitish Rana hit three of his own in a 16-ball 26 and Billings chipped in with a 34 off 29. But it was Russell magic towards the end as it often is - 4 sixes and 3 fours - that lifted KKR to a defendable 177. He returned with the ball to hand Kane Williamson yet another failure and went on to pick two more in his four-over quota as SRH fell 54 despite the enterprising knocks of Abhishek Sharma (43) and Aiden Markram (32).

Scorecard || Points table

Moody happy not to tinker at the top despite Williamson's woeful form

Against KKR on Saturday, the Sunrisers Hyderabad captain scored 9 off 17 balls while opening the batting and his inability to get off the blocks quickly in the 178 run-chase brought upon SRH their fifth defeat on the bounce. Despite Williamson's woeful run at the top of the order, SRH head coach Tom Moody defended the move to retain Markram and Tripathi at No. 3 and 4 respectively, where they've excelled.


Twitter Cricket Index

In an exclusive collaboration with Twitter, Cricbuzz presents The Twitter Cricket Index, a weekly series until the end of the season - revealing the most gripping moments, engaging conversations, and top mentioned players from the ongoing cricket season that had #CricketTwitter glued to the service all week long.

Between May 5-12, whose was the most popular handle? The choice really comes down to two, isn't it? But MS Dhoni pips Virat Kohli this week. Hardly a surprise with avintage innings of 21* off 8 against Delhi Capitals! No wonder @Chennaiipl was also the top team handle of the week, and #whistlepodu, #cskvdc and #yellove among the top trending hashtags.

Top player handles of the week:

1. @msdhoni
2. @imvkohli
3. @imro45
4. @Jaspritbumrah93
5. @dineshkarthik
Also making it to the top-five list of hashtags was #gtvmi. Twitterati was clearly enchanted by thatfamous last over from Daniel Sams. And if it brings upon another rare MI win this season, why not.

Top team handles of the week:

1. @Chennaiipl
2. @Mipaltan
3. @rcbtweets
4. @kkriders
5. @sunRisers
What was most retweeted? Has to be from Virat Kohli, even in a week when MS Dhoni had all the sun shining on him.

Virat KohliVirat Kohli
@imvkohliFollowFirecracker game and a great win. 🧨 @RCBTweets
08 May 2022
129140 7715
On tonight's menu...

It's a race for top-two finish in both the games of Sunday's double-header. An already eliminated CSK meet an already qualified Gujarat Titans in the afternoon fixture with the latter primed to take the two points and earn their place in the Qualifier 1.

The evening game promises to be a cracker with lots at stake for both sides. LSG are only a win away from booking a spot in the next round and should they beat Rajasthan Royals, they'll also assure themselves a top two finish, which will serve as a further incentive for the team. For RR, winning their next two games will take them through and there is also the possibility of them finishing in the top two should they do so. Hence, they'll also be looking to come up with their 'A' game and some consistency as well, having lost three of their last four matches.