Halfway through the IPL

Aggressive head

opener Travis Head has proved to be the 'demolition man' for Sunrisers Hyderabad. With the help of his aggressive batting, Hyderabad has made two record scores this season. That is 277 and 287 runs. The Australian left-handed batsman has scored 324 runs. It includes a century and two fifties. So far he has a strike rate of 6 games played, an incredible 216.

In the last match against Delhi Capitals, Hyderabad scored 266 runs for 7 wickets. Head scored 89 runs in 32 balls. He is batting really well.

Impact of 'Impact Player'

There is a major reason behind the sky-high scores of this tournament, the rule of 'Impact Player'. The impact of this rule is really starting to be seen. The team is also starting to learn and understand how to benefit from this rule. This rule has been implemented since last season. According to this rule, at any time during the toss, a player can be replaced by another player.

This rule is applied with equal benefit to all, not even this one. Indian team captain and Mumbai Indians player Rohit Sharma says, 'I am not an expert on this substitution rule. This rule can erase the role of all-rounders in cricket. According to this rule, cricket is no longer a game between 11 players. This is a game of 12 players.'

IPL president Arun Dhum said, this rule will be reconsidered towards the end of this season.

Kohli going up, Bengaluru going down

If anyone has played well for Royal Challengers Bangalore this time around, it's Virat Kohli. One century and two fifties have come out of his bat. Total runs are 379 runs. He is at the top of the list of highest run scorers in this tournament. Many people fondly call him 'King Kohli'. The reason for saying this to this former captain of Indian cricket is because he talks a lot off the bat.

However, after eight games, his Bengaluru team is at the bottom. He scored 113 runs in the match against Rajasthan Royals. In this process, he remained undefeated. But all that proved to be in vain as Bengaluru lost before Jas Baltar's unbeaten century. Kohli is yet to win an IPL title. It's going on, this time they won't win, maybe there will be something next season?

Pandye's sad story

Just before the start of the tournament, Hardik Pandye became the captain of the five-time champion Mumbai Indians. He replaced veteran Rohit Sharma. He must have been very happy about it. However, this did not last long. Under Pandye's leadership, the IPL heavyweight lost three matches in the beginning. In the process, the audience, even the Mumbai fans, booed him as much as he could. How long did this happen, Sanjay Manjerkar even had to scold the audience at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

Mumbai have won three of the seven matches they have played. But the captain's performance is a concern for the team. Pandye has scored 114 runs with the bat and has taken only four wickets. In the match against Chennai, Pandya's bowling crossed the line based on poor performance. Mahendra Singh Dhoni hit three sixes in Pandya's last over. 26 runs were scored in it. These three consecutive sixes were the main reason for Mumbai's defeat against Chennai.

Starc under intense pressure

Australian bowler Mitchell Starc has not been able to perform even half of his reputation. So far he has taken 6 wickets. That too in terms of 12.94 runs per over. Well, he is the most expensive player in IPL this time. Kolkata Knight Riders spent 2.9 million 80 thousand dollars for him. This left-handed bowler came to India to play IPL after a gap of 9 years. Against Lucknow Super Giants, his performance was a bit better, taking 3 wickets for 28 runs. Against Bengaluru, he scored 19 runs in the last over and made the game cringe. Starc's performance has been poor but what has made the difference is that Kolkata are second in the points table.