IPL week one review

Australian batsmen Glenn Maxwell has taken the IPL by storm, making the Orange Cap his own after just three games. With 279 runs at an average of 93 and a strike rate of 212, Maxwell has been unstoppable with his brilliant strokeplay. His tally of 28 fours and 17 sixes is the highest in the tournament after the first three games. Maxwell, a million-dollar bench warmer in the previous season with Mumbai Indians, has shown his full potential in just three games for KXIP, where he has been thrusted upon the responsibility of batting at No 3. Maxwell is a combination of a modern-day T20 batsman who uses a combination of innovative strokes to flummox the bowler. The right-handed Victorian is yet to deliver with the ball and the way things have gone for him, his performance could ultimately turn out to be fortune-turning for KXIP.

Where most of IPL 7's ties so far have been either high-flying run chases or wins by huge margins, two matches stand out that were closely contested and could have turned any way going into the final over - Rajasthan Royals v Sunrisers Hyderabad and Delhi Daredevils v KKR. Chasing 134 to win against Sunrisers, Royals were coasting along but three quick wickets pegged them back. Needing seven runs to win from five balls, James Faulkner hit back-to-back fours to seal the match. When Daredevils met KKR it was a high-scoring affair with DD's JP Duminy keeping cool to clinch the match in the final over but not after major twists in the contest. Needing 32 from last 18 balls, Duminy hammered Morne Morkel for 21 runs in the 18th over. With six needed from the last over, Piyush Chawla removed Jimmy Neesham to leave the equation for DD at six off four, but Duminy hit a six to take his team to their first win in eight IPL games.

The first week of action has seen several dropped catches prove costly. In the opening game, Mumbai Indians' spearhead Lasith Malinga dropped a straightforward catch of KKR's Jacques Kallis at fine leg when the allrounder flicked a Kieron Pollard delivery inn the air. Kallis, on 35, went on to add 38 more runs in the next 13 balls before he was out for a 46-ball 72. KKR posted 163 for 5, Mumbai lost by 41 runs and Kallis was Man of the Match.

Two days later, Chennai Super Kings' new recruit Ashish Nehra dropped Maxwell in match four. Going well on 37 from 18 balls, Maxwell went for a reverse sweep off Ravindra Jadeja, only to loop the ball in the air. Nehra, trying innocuously to come under it, stretched out his arms but failed miserably to grab on. Maxwell went on to score 57 off his next 25 deliveries to help KXIP to a record chase of 206, with a brilliant 43-ball 95.

On Tuesday, Maxwell got another reprieve against Sunrisers Hyderabad when one of the safest outfielders in modern day cricket, David Warner, got under a skier only to lose the trajectory of the ball on its way down and spill what looked like a relatively simple chance. Maxwell was batting on 11 at the time and cashed in majorly with another 43-ball 95 that set up a 72-run win.

Considering his pedigree in the IPL - he is the leading Indian bowler and second-highest wicket-taker across six full seasons - and his recent form for India in the ICC World Twenty20, it was but natural to expect a lot from SRH's Amit Mishra. With the Hyderabad-based franchise spending big to get back another legspinner in Karn Sharma, one of the most promising uncapped Indians of IPL 6, the pairing seamed a big threat, but it hasn't panned out as widely expected with Mishra conceding runs at 10.25 and Sharma going wicketless in two games at 7.50 an over. That's not to say the art of legspin has been sidelined in IPL 7; far from it.

The unheralded Yuzvendra Chahal from Royal Challengers Bangalore has been most impressive of all the legspinners so far. Against DD and Mumbai Indians, Chahal has got the ball to turn and used his variations to stop the batsmen from scoring runs freely. He has the best economy rate of all the bowlers in the tournament so far, (4.37) and was unfortunate not to collect his second consecutive Man-of-the-Match award. Another legspinner to catch the eye is 42-year old Pravin Tambe of Rajasthan Royals, who though yet to take wicket has been difficult to score off. He played a huge role in throttling SRH with 4-0-23-0 and against KXIP, where his team-mates were being carted by Maxwell, Tambe had excellent figures of 4-0-26-0. It will be interesting to see when and how CSK use West Indian legspinner Samuel Badree, who did well in the World T20.

Legspin aside, pace bowling has found a voice through some top-class spells from current, former and uncapped Indians. Where most of SRH's bowlers were hit to all parts of the ground against KXIP, Bhuvneshwar Kumar got through an economical spell of 3 for 17 in four overs. In the same game, veteran IPL seamer Lakshmipathy Balaji came up with the best bowling figures of the first week, 4 for 13. Mumbai Indians' Zaheer Khan showed glimpses of his best when he dismissed Virat Kohli and Yuvraj Singh in the same over while RCB's new recruit Varun Aaron has been quite effective with his aggressive style of bowling, taking three wickets for 39 runs in seven overs so far. Another RCB addition, Ashok Dinda - who can be expensive - stood out with a superb spell of 1 for 14 from his quota against Daredevils. And before he was pasted for 27 runs by David Miller in one over, RR's Dhawal Kulkarni took 2 for 20 against SRH. Chennai Super Kings' new buy Ishwar Pandey has been impressive with his seam bowling, taking three wickets in two games and going at less than six runs per over.