The top five most impactful innings of IPL 2018’s round-robin phase

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With the round robin phase of the Indian Premier League done and dusted we take a look at the five most impactful innings of the initial phase of the T20 tournament.

For the purposes of this piece we have excluded innings that came in losing causes and will only draw from the teams that ultimately made the playoffs.

Dwayne Bravo 62 v Mumbai Indians

The Chennai Super Kings marked their return to the Indian Premier League with a near miraculous win over the reigning champions the Mumbai Indians.

The Super Kings one wicket victory was made possible by a fearless 62 from Dwayne Bravo

Shikhar Dhawan 92* v Delhi Daredevils

If the table-topping Sunrisers Hyderabad have had one weakness in IPL 2018 it has been their ability to manage a chase but against the Delhi Daredevils Shikhar Dhawan stood up to guide the team past a target of 188.

Along with CSK the Sunrisers are currently tournament favourites and you wouldn’t bet against Dhawan being a key part of their playoff hopes.

Sunil Narine 75 v Kings XI Punjab

In a key match in the bun fight for playoff places Sunil Narine proved his value as a batsman with what we will term a bold approach to opening the batting and what others may call wild slogging.

Narine’s 75 off 36 balls set up an effort of 245 for 6 and ultimately proved to be the reason KKR are in the playoffs and the Kings XI Punjab were eliminated.

The match marked the beginning of a three match winning streak for the Knight Riders which sees them head into the playoffs in excellent form.

Shane Watson 106 v Rajasthan Royals

Early in IPL 2018 results favoured teams batting second but Watson’s big hundred proved that scoreboard pressure can be an effective tool even in the shortest format.

The innings was Watson’s third IPL hundred and helped establish the Super Kings as early pace setters in the IPL.

Jos Buttler 95* v Mumbai Indians

The fifth of Jos Buttler’s record-equalling five IPL fifties in a row was perhaps his best and certainly one of the most critical innings of his IPL career.

The innings guided the Rajasthan Royals to victory over the Mumbai Indians who appeared to be on a charge to the playoffs.

In the end the Royals would pip the Mumbai franchise to fourth place by a margin of two points making Buttler’s innings the most impactful of this season’s IPL so far.

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