Wednesday 26 April 2017 07:29, UK
Which England player has had the biggest impact on IPL 10 in week three – and who helped bring about a new IPL record?
How are the England eight in the tournament faring?
Here's our week three verdict…
Jos Buttler, Mumbai Indians: Inns 3, Runs 122, Best 77, Ave 40.66
Despite seeing their six-match winning run come to an end against RPS, the Mumbai Indians are sitting pretty at the top of the IPL table and that is in no small part down to the performances of Buttler at the top of the order. He hit a brilliant 77 from just 37 balls - his first IPL fifty and career-best T20 score - to help Mumbai chase down 199 against Kings XI and a similar score looked on the cards before he was run out for 28 in the win over Delhi. His only 'failure' came when he was dismissed for 17 by an England team-mate…
VERDICT: 8/10
Ben Stokes, Rising Pune Supergiant: Batting - Inns 2, Runs 27, Best 17, Ave 13.50. Bowling - 6-1-40-2, Best 2-21, Ave 20.00
Stokes' performance against the Sunrisers was underwhelming in the extreme: two overs for 19 and just 10 with the bat. His response though was emphatic. Big runs again alluded him against Mumbai but he more than made up for it with the ball. Stokes had Buttler caught with his second ball as he started with a wicket maiden and bowled Karn Sharma with the first ball of his second over. Perhaps even more impressive was his bowling at the death, Mumbai were restricted to just seven runs from the penultimate over by his mix of superb yorkers and well-disguised slower balls, before a superb catch and a run out in the final over rounded off a man of the match display.
VERDICT: 7/10
Chris Woakes, Kolkata Knight Riders: Bowling - 4-0-26-4, Best 3-6, Ave 6.50. Batting - Inns 1, Runs 18, Ave 18.00
Given just two overs in KKR's defeat to Gujarat, Woakes took 1-20 and picked up the key wicket of Brendon McCullum, but it was his fabulous three-over burst against RCB that made the headlines. The all-rounder bowled with real pace, found more than a hint of movement and tormented the RCB batsmen, taking 3-6, including the wicket of Chris Gayle, as the visitors were dismissed for a IPL record low total of 49.
VERDICT: 8/10
Tymal Mills, Royal Challengers Bangalore: 4-0-31-2, Best 2-31, Ave 15.50
With illness and injury behind him, the left-arm quick returned to the RCB side for the aforementioned clash with KKR and, rather unfortunately for the bowlers, a staggering batting collapse meant an impressive effort with the ball was largely overlooked. Mills had played his part, making the most of the pace in the pitch to get Gautam Gambhir jumping around early on before getting him to knick off. He then added the wicket of England team-mate Woakes as he returned highly respectable figures of 2-31 as the Knight Riders were dismissed for 131. Tuesday's washout at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium meant that was it for Mills in week three but he should be fresh, fit and firing as RCB look to claw their way back into the play-off picture.
VERDICT: 7/10
Sam Billings, Delhi Daredevils: Inns 1, Runs 13, Best 13, Ave 13.00
After hitting a half-century in week two, it was a rather more disappointing week for Billings as, after hitting three boundaries to get up and running, he fell for just 13 in the Daredevils defeat to the Sunrisers. The Kent man was then dropped for the game with Mumbai Indians although another Delhi defeat and a duck for his replacement, Aditya Tare, may give him hope of a swift recall.
VERDICT: 4/10
Eoin Morgan, Kings XI Punjab: not picked, two games
It was another quiet week for the England white-ball skipper as, after forcing his way into the Kings XI side for a couple of games last week, he found himself back on the sidelines again in week three. After watching Buttler fire Mumbai to victory in Indore, he saw his side return to winning ways with victory over Gujarat in Rajkot.
VERDICT: n/a
Jason Roy, Gujarat Lions: not picked, two games
With the Lions continuing to struggle there must be more than a hint of frustration for Roy that he has been unable to reclaim a spot in the XI. McCullum and Aaron Finch seem to have nailed down the opening spots but the latter has done a job in the middle order before and with Dwayne Smith and Dwayne Bravo unavailable for the remainder of the tournament, Roy may yet earn a recall before he returns to the UK for England's ODI series with Ireland.
VERDICT: n/a
Chris Jordan, Sunrisers Hyderabad: not picked, two games
It has been a similar story for Chris Jordan. He, too, has been limited to a watching brief but with the Sunrisers competing at the top end of the table and boasting one of the strongest bowling attacks in the competition, the England bowling all-rounder may finder opportunities harder to come by.
VERDICT: n/a
