Just two matches now remain in the IPL 2020 playoffs, and there’s just a little over a week left in the tournament. And so, here’s the Wisden IPL 2020 Team of the Week following the sixth week of action.

The period in consideration is from Monday, October 26 to Sunday, November 1. It was an exciting week in IPL 2020, as the race for the knockouts intensified, and every result had immense consequences.

At the end of it all, two more teams, Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) and Rajasthan Royals (RR), joined Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the list of teams that have been eliminated. Meanwhile, defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) sealed the top spot, even as the remaining four teams – Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), Delhi Capitals (DC), Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) – continued to jostle for three playoffs spots.

Our team this week has three players each from KKR and SRH, followed by two each from CSK and MI, and a lone ranger from KXIP.

Wriddhiman Saha – SRH

The Sunrisers Hyderabad wicketkeeper-batsman blasted his way to a 45-ball-87 against Delhi Capitals, taking on the likes of Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje to help his side to a crucial 88-run win, a margin that has significantly boosted SRH’s hopes of making the playoffs. After spending over a month on the sidelines, Saha’s attacking intent stood out even when David Warner was going all guns blazing at the other end. He followed that up with a sensible 39 off 32 in a small chase against RCB after losing Warner early on.

Ruturaj Gaikwad – CSK

Gaikwad finished IPL 2020 on a high with three consecutive fifties, two of which came in the last week, making him a shoo-in into this XI. He ended the season with the best average of all the CSK batsmen – 204 runs at an average of 51 in six matches – and all of his three half-centuries resulted in a CSK win, which also helped the side avoid the wooden spoon. With MS Dhoni praising him to the skies, Gaikwad is primed to be one of the players the franchise rebuilds its team around.

Chris Gayle – KXIP

Even at 41, Gayle remains among the most destructive T20 batsmen in the world. With KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal forming a succesful opening pair for KXIP, Gayle had to bat at one drop. He still looked at home. He started the week with a 63-ball-99 against Rajasthan Royals in a match that also saw him breach the 1,000 T20 sixes mark, and followed it up with a 51 against KKR. He finished IPL 2020 with 288 runs at 41.14 and strike-rate of 137.14 in just seven matches, including 23 sixes.

Suryakumar Yadav – MI

Shaking off the disappointment of his non-selection in India’s limited-overs squad for the upcoming tour to Australia, Suryakumar Yadav delivered a Player of the Match performance against India captain Virat Kohli’s RCB. His 79 off 43 was enough to see off RCB with ease, leaving them strangled in a top-four rat-race as MI strengthened their position at the top. More such performances in the knockouts will further help his case as he pushes for a maiden India call-up.

Eoin Morgan – KKR

The Kolkata Knight Riders captain has pulled them out of a hole and left them with a fighting chance of making it to the playoffs. He launched a counter-attack on the KXIP bowlers (40 off 25) after KKR were reduced to 10-3 to start off the week. And while he didn’t have much of an impact on proceedings against CSK, he was back to his best in a crucial encounter against RR, smashing 68 off 35 to help them stay in contention for playoffs with a resounding 60-run win.

Ravindra Jadeja – CSK

Jadeja contributed with both the bat and ball this week. He led CSK to a last-ball win over KKR with consecutive sixes off the final two deliveries of the chase, before contributing to the many memes surrounding this IPL by pointing to ‘India Cements’ on the back of his shirt. The left-arm spinner bowled an economical spell in the match as well, taking a wicket while conceding 20 runs in four overs. He played another crucial role in CSK’s win over KXIP, returning figures of 1-17 from his three overs as his franchise finished the season with a nine-wicket win.

Pat Cummins – KKR

It was a fruitful week for Cummins, in which he took six wickets, four of which came in a crunch encounter against RR. He punctured RR’s playoffs hopes and strengthened KKR’s by taking four wickets in the Powerplay of the chase after Kolkata had psoted 192. He also took two wickets against CSK at crucial junctures of the match, but didn’t get enough support from his teammates to hold them off.

Rashid Khan – SRH

In eight overs that Rashid bowled this week, he conceded just 31 runs, bowling 30 dot balls and taking four wickets. He was unplayable against DC, bowling the most economical spell of IPL 2020 so far to finish with 3-7 from four overs. It bettered Mohammed Siraj’s 3-8 against KKR.

Varun Chakravarthy – KKR

The KKR mystery spinner has brought his game up a notch after earning his maiden India call-up for their T20Is in Australia. In the three KKR matches last week, he took five wickets, returning identical figures of 2-20 against CSK and RR respectively. The highlight of the week was his dismissal of MS Dhoni – a slider which shattered Dhoni’s defence, after coming in quickly to uproot his leg stump. It was the second time that Dhoni was bowled by Varun this season.

Jasprit Bumrah – MI

Bumrah took his 100th IPL wicket this week, and it came with a nice symmetry – the victim for both his first and 100th IPL wicket was Kohli. In all, the MI quick took six wickets, three against RCB and three against DC in two fiery spells of fast bowling. He was only taken for 31 runs in eight overs – an economy of 3.87. It’ll be near-impossible to stop MI from winning their fifth IPL title if Bumrah continues in the same vein.

Sandeep Sharma – SRH

Sharma was another player who achieved a unique feat involving Kohli. He became the IPL bowler with the most dismissals of Kohli to his name after taking the RCB captain’s wicket a seventh time. Sandeep was economical and took four wickets, all crucial wickets for SRH this week as they kept their playoffs hopes alive. His victims were Devdutt Padikkal, Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan and Rishabh Pant – all players capable of taking the game away from their opponents single-handedly.

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Kings Xi PunjabKolkata Knight RidersChennai Super KingsMumbai IndiansSunrisers Hyderabad Chris GayleIndian Premier LeagueGlobal T20 Leagues