Wisden

The independent voice of cricket

LIVE SCORES
Indian Premier League 2020

Wisden’s IPL 2020 team of the week – week four

IPL 2020 Team of the week 4
by Sankalp Srivastava 5-minute read

As the fourth week of IPL 2020 action came to an end with three back-to-back super overs – two of which came in the same game – we pick the tournament’s best XI of the week. The period taken into consideration for the XI is from Monday, October 12 to Sunday, October 18.

The high-flying Delhi Capitals, who continue to impress, have four players in the XI while three players from Mumbai Indians, who are second on the table, make the cut. Two players each from Kings XI Punjab, who have had a revival of sorts this week, and Royal Challengers Bangalore complete the team of the week.

Note: The XI follows the ‘maximum of four overseas players’ rule

Quinton de Kock (Mumbai Indians)

With two fifties in the week – 78* in a convincing eight-wicket win over KKR and 53 in the double super over encounter against KXIP – de Kock makes our IPL’s team of the fourth week as one of the two openers. The wicketkeeper-batsman’s recent form has also helped him enter the list of top 10 run-getters of the ongoing tournament.

Shikhar Dhawan (Delhi Capitals)

The third centurion of IPL 2020, Dhawan hit his maiden T20 hundred in DC’s win over CSK on Saturday. The southpaw contributed a 33-ball 57 against Rajasthan earlier in the week and now has three consecutive 50+ scores in the competition. He is currently the fourth-highest run-getter of the tournament with 359 runs.

KL Rahul (Kings XI Punjab)

With 525 runs in nine matches so far, Rahul is comfortably leading IPL 2020’s top run-getters list. In KXIP’s two encounters this week – both of which they won – against RCB and MI, the Punjab captain returned scores of 61* and 77 respectively. While he continues to open for his franchise, even after Chris Gayle’s inclusion, we have put him at number three in our team of the week.

AB de Villiers (Royal Challengers Bangalore)

RCB played three matches this week and de Villiers was their hero in two of them. A scintillating 33-ball-73 against KKR at Sharjah propelled Bangalore to a first innings total of 194, a match they won by 82 runs. A demotion in the batting order against KXIP followed but Kohli corrected his mistake in the next game, reinstating ABD to his preferred number four spot. The result: a 22-ball-55 against RR, finishing the game with two balls to spare even when at one stage RCB required 35 off 12. Superman.

Shreyas Iyer (Delhi Capitals)

While his team sit pretty at the top of the table, Iyer has been accumulating runs without hogging much of the limelight and allowing others to thrive around him. He is currently the eighth-highest run-getter in the tournament with 321 runs to his name. A 53 against RR and run-a-ball 23 against CSK this week have him slot in at five in our team of the week.

Chris Morris (Royal Challengers Bangalore)

Few players in the history of IPL have had the kind of instant impact that Morris has had at RCB. The South African all-rounder bagged six wickets this week, two against KKR and four against RR. In the match that he went wicketless, v KXIP, he conceded just 22 runs in four overs, and finished RCB’s innings with a flourish, scoring 25 off eight.

Axar Patel (Delhi Capitals)

The first two sixes off Axar Patel’s bowling in IPL 2020 were hit by Sanju Samson in the DC v RR encounter, which was the left-arm spinner’s seventh outing of the tournament. And he hit back almost immediately – a quick arm-ball to clean bowl the RR batsman. Patel then emerged as the hero against CSK. With DC needing 17 off the last over, he slammed three sixes to finish with a five-ball-21.

Rahul Chahar (Mumbai Indians)

With two wickets each against KKR and KXIP respectively, the 21-year-old leg-spinner slots into our team of the week as the second spinner. He’s been going about his work silently and already has 11 wickets in nine matches, making him the joint sixth-highest wicket-taker of the ongoing tournament.

Anrich Nortje (Delhi Capitals)

Alongside compatriot Kagiso Rabada, Nortje has formed a lethal fast-bowling pair at DC. All of the five fastest deliveries in the tournament so far have been bowled by him and six of the top 10. He was instrumental in both of Capitals’ win this week, taking a combined four wickets to take his tally to a total of 12 wickets in IPL 2020.

Jasprit Bumrah (Mumbai Indians)

If not for Jasprit Bumrah, the KXIP-MI encounter wouldn’t have entered even the first super over. With 27 needed off 18 and Rahul and Deepak Hooda set, Bumrah bowled a near-perfect 18th over, conceding just five runs and removing Rahul with one of his deadly yorkers to finish with figures of 3-24. He followed it up with a stupendous super over, again conceding just five runs and taking both of KXIP’s wickets. But it was his fast-bowling partner in the team of the week that spoiled his party. Nevertheless, with four wickets in two matches this week, Bumrah was a shoo-in to this side.

Mohammed Shami (Kings XI Punjab)

Few would have expected Shami to match Bumrah’s super over performance, that too when bowling to the pair of Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock. Add to that the two wickets that he bagged in the match while conceding just 30 runs. Shami was instrumental against RCB as well, removing both Kohli and de Villiers in KXIP’s eight-wicket win. With 14 wickets now, he is third on the list of the top IPL 2020 wicket-takers and a straightforward pick for our team of the week.

Have Your Say

Become a Wisden member

  • Exclusive offers and competitions
  • Money-can’t-buy experiences
  • Join the Wisden community
  • Sign up for free
LEARN MORE
Latest magazine

Get the magazine

12 Issues for just £39.99

SUBSCRIBE