Rashid Khan - The Best Cricketer of the Week

Many players relish the opportunity to be the hero. Think Lala Amarnath in 1933, think Botham in 1981 and start thinking Rashid Khan in 2018. The thing about the heroism of the Afghanistani player is he seems to enjoy contrasting some world beating performances at the end of tournaments with some pretty mediocre showings just before. He has done this already this year. Afghanistan seemed out of the World Cup Qualifiers earlier in the year but rose Phoenix like and managed to qualify - led, of course, by captain Rashid Khan. This week we have seen a similar pattern. Whilst the Hyderabad bowler's performances this season have been important to his side, he has often lacked consistency and oscillated between non-eventful showings and match-winning displays. This has been epitomised in his three games this week. He began the week with something he manages to do quite often and scored 0 points from the final group stage game against Kolkata. This acted as a counterpoint to the two games that followed where he claimed eight wickets and kept his economy startlingly low, whilst also holding his nerve to help his side into the final. His eight wickets this week weren't any old wickets, however. Not many bowlers would be able to match a weekly haul boasting the likes of Robin Uthappa, Chris Lynn, MS Dhoni, Dwayne Bravo, Virat Kohli, AB De Villiers and Moeen Ali. This performance has not been enough to overhaul Simon Harmer from the top of the overall table, however he has halved the South African's lead and now sits 193 points below the Essex bowler. 

His performances over the last fortnight have been so impressive but Kane Williamson has proved himself to be something of an inverse Rashid Khan in the IPL this week. Whilst his Hyderabad team mate stepped up to the plate, the New Zealander got his lowest weekly yield of points for the entire tournament. This will not overly distress him however as he has used the showpiece to boost his position in the overall table - climbing from 11th to 5th on his way to tomorrow's final. He has also come out on top of the trio of batsmen with whom he has been vying over the last month - finishing 167 points above Virat Kohli and 328 above AB De Villiers. Both Bangalore players have had something of an eventful week - and one that will effect their point scoring over the coming months. Kohli's neck injury has seen him forced to cancel his spell with Surrey and put an end to his run of 7 consecutive weeks of point scoring. On the other hand AB De Villiers announced his international retirement which may increase his chances of playing more domestic cricket and T20 competitions - something which will boost his points going forward. 

Dean Elgar needs special mention before we wrap up with his highest score for 8 weeks. We are used to praising bowlers Simon Harmer and Jeetan Patel for their domestic performances but this week both Elgar and fellow countryman Hashim Amla have used the bat and the plethora of games in the Royal London One Day Cup to propel them into the top five for the week. Both South Africans languish outside the top ten but will continue to play very regularly over the coming weeks whilst their IPL playing compatriots will now be resting. 

Week 

Rashid Khan - 284
Dean Elgar- 211
Sunil Narine - 209
Simon Harmer - 168
Hashim Amla- 159
Jeetan Patel - 150
Kane Williamson - 133
Shakib Al Hasan - 120
AB De Villiers- 103
Shaun Marsh - 96
Ravi Jadeja - 83
Jofra Archer- 50 
Ravi Ashwin - 40 
Aaron Finch - 4
Virat Kohli - 4
George Bailey - dnp 
Jos Buttler - dnp 
Quinton de Kock- dnp 
JP Duminy - dnp 
Nathan Lyon - dnp 
Mitchell Marsh- dnp 
Joe Root - dnp 
Steve Smith - dnp 
David Warner - dnp 

Overall

Simon Harmer - 3095
Rashid Khan - 2902
Sunil Narine- 2617
Jeetan Patel - 2433
Kane Williamson -2338
Virat Kohli- 2171
Jos Buttler - 2064
AB De Villiers- 2010
Nathan Lyon - 1789
Joe Root - 1752
JP Duminy - 1737
Hashim Amla - 1524
Mitchell Marsh - 1425
Ravi Ashwin - 1370
Dean Elgar- 1367
Quinton de Kock - 1292
Shakib Al Hasan - 1268
Aaron Finch - 1243
Shaun Marsh- 1011
Jofra Archer - 965
Ravi Jadeja - 941
David Warner - 752
Steve Smith - 706
George Bailey - 631

Simon Harmer - The Best Cricketer of the Week

Simon Harmer has had a good week. Not only did he get his sixth fivefer in his last ten games; not only did he finish top of the weekly points league with almost double the points of such luminaries as AB De Villiers, Kane Williamson and Virat Kohli; not only did he get his fourth Best cricketer of the Week title and first since March but most importantly he finally managed to reel in Rashid Khan to become statistically the best cricketer of 2018 so far. He has topped this league before. Rashid Khan displaced the South African bowler half way through March and has been at the top of the table ever since - but his poor performances for Hyderabad coupled with Harmer bringing his Sunfoil Series form back to Essex has seen Harmer claim a 309 run lead on the Afghanistan spinner. With Harmer playing almost as many games as Rashid Khan over the next week we could see him further extend his lead this week. 

At this point of the IPL we start to see strike rates rise as net run rate starts to play a bigger part on the overall table. We have certainly seen this play a key feature with the triumvirate of batsmen we have been paying close attention to throughout the tournament. At the start of the tournament Kohli, De Villiers and Williamson (in that order) were sat 9th, 10th and 11th. They have matched each other stroke for stroke this year and have now reversed their order and now sit in 5th, 6th and 8th. Two other players that have joined this big hitting party are Jos Buttler (7th) and Sunil Narine (3rd). These 5, plus three rather unexpected intruders, have all given at least one big hitting performance this week. Below is a table to exemplify this quick hitting trend over the last week.

Sunil Narine - 21 off 7 against Rajasthan
Sunil Narine - 75 off 36 against Punjab 
Ravi Ashwin - 45 off 22 against Kolkata
AB De Villiers- 72 off 37 against Delhi 
Kane Williamson - 81 off 42 against Bangalore 
Jos Buttler - 94 off 53 against Mumbai
Jos Buttler - 39 off 22 against Kolkata
AB De Villiers- 69 off 39 against Hyderabad
Virat Kohli - 70 off 40 against Delhi 
Virat Kohli - 48 off 28 against Punjab 
Aaron Finch - 34 off 20 against Kolkata 
Ravi Jadeja - 27 off 18 against Delhi 

The first thing that stands out here is the fact that so many of these clattering performances are from the same games. To see one score over 20 with a strike rate 150+ in a game is rare but when times are hard these performers can grab them seemingly with ease. At the top of this table sits a double performance from Sunil Narine who has sealed his position as a devastating if not always long lasting opening batsman that can give the rest of the batting line up the chance to build off of his exploits. After two torrid weeks of poor performances and illness, AB De Villiers is back to his best with two performances way over 50 and coupled with a great strike rate. Another player back from the brink is Aaron Finch who has got three decent scores now he is back in the Punjab team one with a strike rate just over the 150 mark. Two anomalies come from Ravi Jadeja and Ravi Ashwin, two bowlers who are really struggling with wickets in this tournament but both showing they have some surprises up their sleeve with the bat. 

Yorkshire and England batsman Joe Root wanted his spell in domestic cricket to set him up for his national performances - and many will fear it has done just that. Last time out for England, Root's performances with the bat were underwhelming and he would oftentimes yield more points with the ball than he would with the bat - and this is just how he has ended his spell with the White Rose. As he turns his attention to Pakistan and a return to his more familiar spot batting at three, one hopes he will reignite his year and keep his rightful place in the overall top ten. 

Week

Simon Harmer - 400
AB De Villiers- 271
Kane Williamson - 242
Virat Kohli - 240 
Sunil Narine- 236
Jos Buttler - 213 
Aaron Finch - 186
Jeetan Patel - 157
Ravi Ashwin - 145
Hashim Amla- 141
Dean Elgar - 102
Joe Root- 102
Ravi Jadeja - 97
Shaun Marsh - 94
Rashid Khan - 90
Jofra Archer - 76
Shakib Al Hasan - 8
JP Duminy- 0
George Bailey - dnp 
Quinton de Kock- dnp 
Nathan Lyon - dnp 
Mitchell Marsh - dnp 
Steve Smith - dnp 
David Warner - dnp 

Overall

Simon Harmer - 2927
Rashid Khan - 2618
Sunil Narine- 2408
Jeetan Patel - 2283
Kane Williamson -2205
Virat Kohli- 2167
Jos Buttler - 2064
AB De Villiers- 1907
Nathan Lyon - 1789
Joe Root - 1752
JP Duminy - 1737
Mitchell Marsh - 1425
Hashim Amla - 1365
Ravi Ashwin - 1330
Quinton de Kock - 1292
Aaron Finch - 1239
Dean Elgar- 1156
Shakib Al Hasan - 1148
Jofra Archer - 915
Shaun Marsh- 915
Ravi Jadeja - 858
David Warner - 752
Steve Smith - 706
George Bailey - 631

Jeetan Patel - The Best Cricketer of the Week

His performances are metronomic as ever. Jeetan Patel will deliver every other match. Coming off the back of his disappointing yield of just 40 points from his first game for Warwickshire against Sussex, he has now picked up over 600 points from his next two games with a week off in between. His score of 417 was a serious total that set a high bar for his IPL compatriots after he set it on Bank Holiday Monday with a match yield of 10 wickets against Derbyshire. His table topping score has seen his overall position take a massive jump, overlapping IPL Stars Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson and moving him into 4th place. 

He set a high bar but Jos Buttler seemed determined to challenge him all the way down to the wire. The Rajasthan player has put in a shift for his ailing team this week with three scores over 50 - culminating in his hugely impressing 95* against Chennai that keeps his team in the playoff hunt. His weekly total of 378 would have been enough for him to come out on top in any of the last seven weeks but instead he's pipped into second by a 38 year old playing in Birmingham. His three impressive knocks puts him very much in the mix from the players chasing the top 4. He currently sits 7th - a mere 76 points off Kohli. 

229 points from a week is a hugely impressive total of points for any player and Kane Williamson will be disappointed that it only puts him fourth this week but he can take some solace in the fact it is practically stratospheric compared to the two Bangalore players that he has been competing with most closely throughout this competition . The New Zealander was the victim of Kohli playing one more game than him last week but the reverse situation has yielded a much more dramatic disparity in points this week. Kohli's 89 points from his game against Williamson's Bangalore pails in comparison to the massive haul from his opposing captain. In turn, AB De Villiers would be looking on envious at Kohli's 89, scoring, as he did, a mere 5 point. That is now just 6 points from the last two weeks since the South African's table topping performance in Week 17. Williamson now overtakes a number of players including Kohli to sit fifth - the leader of the chasing pack. 

Often hindsight can be a wonderful thing. Joe Root entered the County Championship fray saying that he wanted to ignite his run scoring and inspire his Yorkshire and England team mates to follow suit. Cue a duck and a score of 35 runs with no further contributions with the ball or in the field and Root ends on his lowest ever score in a week where he has played. He sits bottom of the overall top ten alongside the equally flagging AB De Villiers - one good performance from the South African could push the England captain out for the first time. 

Among the joys of collating these points are the fact that it throws up statistical anomalies that I would never have unmasked otherwise. First is out of form Mumbai player JP Duminy who, whilst not prolific, is certainly consistent with two successive scores of 33 points from the last four games over the last two weeks. Another is Jofra Archer's penchant for a zero. Although not known for his batting, four consecutive scores of 0 including two scores of 0* must be some kind of record. 

Although the top of the table is closer than ever with just one point separating out of form Rashid Khan from rain affected Simon Harmer, the bottom of the table may have reached a familiar normality. It has taken awhile for the dust to settle on the ball tampering scandal but the foot of the table now consists of David Warner, Steve Smith and George Bailey. A situation that may remain forever thus. 

Week 

Jeetan Patel - 417
Jos Buttler - 378
Hashim Amla- 241
Kane Williamson - 229 
Shakib Al Hasan - 135
Simon Harmer - 106
Shaun Marsh - 101
Virat Kohli- 89
Jofra Archer - 80
Sunil Narine - 69
Ravi Ashwin - 40
Joe Root- 35
JP Duminy - 33
Rashid Khan - 21 
Ravi Jadeja - 20
AB De Villiers - 9
George Bailey - dnp 
Quinton de Kock- dnp 
Dean Elgar - dnp 
Aaron Finch - dnp 
Nathan Lyon - dnp 
Mitchell Marsh- dnp 
Steve Smith - dnp 
David Warner - dnp 

Overall

Rashid Khan - 2528
Simon Harmer - 2527
Sunil Narine- 2172
Jeetan Patel - 2126
Kane Williamson -1963
Virat Kohli- 1927
Jos Buttler - 1851
Nathan Lyon - 1789
JP Duminy - 1737
Joe Root - 1650
AB De Villiers- 1636
Mitchell Marsh - 1425
Quinton de Kock - 1292
Hashim Amla - 1224
Ravi Ashwin - 1185
Shakib Al Hasan - 1140
Dean Elgar- 1054
Aaron Finch - 1053
Jofra Archer - 839
Shaun Marsh- 821
Ravi Jadeja - 761
David Warner - 752
Steve Smith - 706
George Bailey - 631

Virat Kohli - The Best Cricketer of the Week

Many say that County Championship is losing it's lustre but this week Surrey signed the best cricketer of the week and the fourth best overall. Virat Kohli will join up with Surrey to make his glittering debut in the cricketing wonderland that is Beckenham - but until then he is effectively proving his worth in a low profile competition called the IPL. This week has seen him jump to the very top of the chasing pack behind the top three and also quietens his competition from the three IPL batsmen that he has been challenging throughout the season. Kane Williamson would have thought that his displays with the bat would have been enough to give him the edge and in both of his games his figures have matched Kohli. Whilst the Indian got 68 against Kolkata, the New Zealander got 63 against Rajasthan. Then the Delhi born Indian captain got 32 against Mumbai only for the Taurangan to match that against Delhi. It might have been Williamson's week if it wasn't for the extra game that Kohli has played. The last of the batting triumvirate had something of an underwhelming week. After his table topping performance last week, AB De Villiers has been limited to one appearance and one point due to illness. The three are now spread fairly even through the top ten with Kohli 4th, Williamson 6th and De Villiers 9th. 

There were many high scoring performances in this week's round up but there was also a startling amount of low scoring performances. JP Duminy's 4 week sabbatical from the game did not end with a huge yield of points from his three games for Mumbai. He began by getting 0 points from the game against Chennai before getting a paltry 33 points from his other three games. His bowling has been particularly disappointing and he looks a very likely candidate to drop out of the top ten very soon. Duminy was not the only low scoring contributor with Shakib Al Hasan getting just 6 runs across his two games and showing nothing with the ball at all. Ravi Ashwin will also be disappointed. His only contribution was an economy below 6 against Mumbai - this despite bowling his full allocation in his two games. The plight of Ashwin's team mate Aaron Finch has reached it's natural conclusion. After his poor form - chronicled last week - he has now been dropped from the Punjab side. Finch very possibly could be experiencing the worst IPL season of anyone in this year's competition. 

Another player who would have had a real claim for the title of worst IPL campaign before this week would have been Ravi Jadeja. He could even have been a candidate for worst year to date - sitting, as he did, at the foot of the table. The spinner has had the opportunity to gain some momentum this week with Chennai playing 4 games - therefore playing more than any other in our list. The progress the spinner has made is undoubtable. The week began in the manner we have become accustomed, with Jadeja getting 0* and not being trusted to bowl. From there he was given a chance and bagged a wicket apiece against Delhi and Kolkata before ending the week with a threefer including the wicket of his national captain and weekly top scorer, Kohli, in the game against Bangalore. Jadeja has added to these 5 wickets with some decent fielding points - grabbing 4 dismissals and dropping at least 2 more. The shocking sight of Jadeja as the second best of the week has also dragged him off the bottom of the overall table. The root of the table now belongs to George Bailey and Steve Smith - something that may be the case forever more - but the spinner now also has a 21 point lead over Shaun Marsh. The battle at the bottom is looking just as interesting as the one at the top. 

Week

Virat Kohli - 198
Ravi Jadeja - 192
Sunil Narine - 169
Jos Buttler - 157
Kane Williamson - 155
Jofra Archer - 111
Simon Harmer - 106
Quinton de Kock - 96
Hashim Amla - 82
Rashid Khan - 81
Dean Elgar- 58
JP Duminy - 33
Ravi Ashwin - 10
Shakib Al Hasan - 6
Shaun Marsh - 4
AB De Villiers- 1
George Bailey - dnp 
Aaron Finch - dnp 
Nathan Lyon - dnp 
Mitchell Marsh - dnp 
Jeetan Patel - dnp 
Joe Root- dnp 
Steve Smith - dnp 
David Warner - dnp 

Overall

Rashid Khan - 2507
Simon Harmer - 2421
Sunil Narine- 2103
Virat Kohli- 1838
Nathan Lyon - 1789
Kane Williamson -1734
Jeetan Patel - 1709
JP Duminy - 1704
AB De Villiers- 1631
Joe Root - 1615
Jos Buttler - 1473
Mitchell Marsh - 1425
Quinton de Kock - 1292
Ravi Ashwin - 1145
Shakib Al Hasan - 1105
Dean Elgar- 1054
Aaron Finch - 1053
Hashim Amla - 983
Jofra Archer - 759
David Warner - 752
Ravi Jadeja - 741
Shaun Marsh- 720
Steve Smith - 706
George Bailey - 631