The T20 Juggernaut marches on-IPL 2021(Part-III)

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Hello Friends,

Hope all of you are safe & healthy during these tough times. Request all of you to follow all the precautions to save your & your loved ones' lives. Here I am with updates from yet another exciting week of IPL season 14. Even though the week gone by gave us some extremely thrilling encounters but there has not been much of a change in the points table standings. We were expecting at least couple of teams from the bottom half will definitely do some turnarounds but that has not been the case so far. As the league has already entered its reverse fixture segment & teams are left with fewer matches, coming weeks should witness some edge of the seat encounters. Let's quickly have a look on top highlights of the week

• CSK's dominance continues & looks comfortable to seal their playoff berth.

• Shocking change of leadership in Sunrisers Hyderabad as Williamson replaced Warner as the captain for the remainder of the season. Unfortunately Punjab Kings also had to appoint Mayank Agarwal as the new captain as Rahul will not be available due to health related issues.

• Defending champions Mumbai Indians getting back to their best with a thumping win over Chennai Super Kings. Pollard's form a big plus for them.

• Delhi Capitals became the table toppers under young captain Pant. Opening partnership of Dhawan & Shaw going great guns for them.

• Great gesture by individual players & teams to donate for the cause of Covid relief in India.

Let us now take a look at the top leadership instances set by individuals or teams during the week.

The Leader In Young Rishabh Pant Shines

Backing youngsters always provides fruitful results. Delhi Capitals franchisee is the prime example of that in the recent years. They handed over the leadership role to young Shreyas Iyer to change the fortune of the team. Under him they built an excellent team with some exciting young talents coming into the picture. This year with the absence of regular captain Iyer due to injury they once again handed over the captaincy to yet another exciting young talent Rishabh Pant. It must have been a great honour for the young Delhi lad to get such a huge responsibility in spite of the presence of some of the senior players in the team. So far he has done his bit to justify his promotion. Though some of his decisions were questionable during the initial matches, he ensured that he learns from his mistakes & moves forward. That is something very important for any young leader. Advice from an experienced coaching staff headed by Ponting & senior players in the team has helped his cause too. Great to see his calmness during tough phases of the match. He was so disappointed during the match against RCB where he could not get his team to victory despite being unbeaten till the end. Some of his decisions made in the field were also criticized in that match. But he made an excellent comeback in the next game against KKR by taking some excellent decisions at the right time to restrict the opposition & win the match. His quick learning ability will definitely take him a long way in his leadership journey. He has been working hard since being dropped from India's limited overs squad last year. His hard work paid off as he had been recalled to the limited overs squad against England early this year. Great to see yet another Indian youngster delivering at the highest level by defeating all the odds. Looking forward to some more exciting performances by the young captain in the coming days.

Came Shaw & Conquered

Another success story of a young gun. Prithvi Shaw has been exceptional this season so far for Delhi Capitals. His opening combination with Dhawan delivering great results for the team match after match. He was dropped last year from the team during later half of the league due to poor performances. Further he was dropped from the Indian test team as well in the tour of Australia after a solitary test match. But he worked his backside off & came back with some excellent performances in the domestic tournaments early this year. His rich vein of form continues so far in the IPL too. It's never easy for any player to make a come back in such a short span specially in a highly competitive league like IPL. But he did that. That exhibits his mental toughness. One of the instances during last year's IPL has come into light  where he denied to take part in net sessions as he was going through a rough patch. Great to see a youngster who has so much of faith in his work ethics & the process that he follows. His hard work will definitely take him to greater heights.

No Sunshine Yet For The Sunrisers

The week ended with the shocking news of David Warner's removal from the captaincy as well as playing eleven for the Sunrisers Hyderabad franchisee. This is not the first time that a team has changed the captain mid season. But it came as a big surprise for everybody as he has been brilliant as a leader & as a batter for the franchisee all these years. Few unsatisfactory results can not be a reason for such a drastic move. The entire incident can be a very good example of how an organization should handle change in leadership. Team was not doing good this season so far. Injuries to couple of key players like Natarajan & Bhubaneswar Kumar has not helped their cause either. Moreover the performances of their middle order has been extremely disappointing resulting in some close losses. In such a time collective efforts from everybody to improve the performance is what expected rather than a sudden change in leadership. Such a move lot of times dampens the moral of the team. It also can create a huge uncertainty among the players about their places in the team. A leader is as good as his team. His replacement Kane Williamson is a seasoned leader. But it will be harsh on him to expect an immediate turnaround as it's a team game. Efforts required from every member to succeed. His first match as the captain this season has not gone their way too. Hopefully the team can stabilize the situation soon & get back to winning ways.

Stay tuned for more updates. But importantly stay at home & follow all the safety protocols to fight Covid surge.

Click here for the last week's story.