IPL 2019: Predicted Orange & Purple cap holders at the end of second week

The 12th edition of IPL had a slow start as the opening game yielded less than 150 runs, but as it turned out it was just a solitary barren match in the first week. Despite the controversies of ‘Mankading’ and the umpiring howlers, cricket has been the talking point for the fans. By the end of the first week, we have witnessed three centuries, a couple of tight finishes and a super over as well!

Imran Tahir continued to flummox batsmen with his googlies and wears the Purple cap after CSK’s victory over the Rajasthan Royals. Warner was all over the hapless RCB bowlers and literally owns the Orange Cap at the moment. Over the 11 IPL seasons, there have been nine different winners of orange and purple cap. So will the honours change after the second week of action?

Here we predict the highest run-getter and wicket-taker after the second week:

David Warner (Sunrisers Hyderabad)

It took only three innings for ‘Goliath’ Warner to remind the world of his carnage creation abilities with the bat in hand. A week ago his spot in the World Cup team was in doubt considering the lack of cricket he had played at the highest level in the last 12 months. But the left-hander has ruffled all those doubts by displaying tremendous form and fitness merely in three matches.

In their opening game against the KKR, Warner laid the foundation for a big score by smashing a 53-ball-85.  Against Rajasthan, he smoked 69 runs at a strike rate of 186. Finally, on a Sunday evening, Warner treated the Orange Army with his fourth IPL hundred and meanwhile regained the orange cap from Andre Russell as well. He has so far amassed 254 runs in three outings and is well ahead of the others.

SRH’s next two assignments are on flat tops in Hyderabad and Delhi. Warner is already a two-time orange cap winner, and by the looks of his form in the first week, he will hold on it for the second week comfortably.

Yuzvendra Chahal (Royal Challengers Bangalore)

Leg-spinners have been dominating T20 charts in recent years. The IPL has played a major role in the rise of Yuzvendra Chahal in Indian cricket. Such is his value that RCB used their Right to Match card in the 2018 IPL auctions. Last year he surpassed Vinay Kumar to become RCB’s all-time leading wicket-taker.

Contrary to the results of his team, Chahal has started this season with a couple of impressive performances. On the opening night this season, defending a small target against CSK, he returned with the figures of 4-1-6-1. Later in a high-scoring game against Mumbai Indians, Chahal ran through the visitors’ middle order picking up 4 wickets and halted their innings to less than 200. He may have been expensive against SRH, but so were rest of the RCB bowlers.

RCB will travel to Jaipur for their next match and return back for two home games. Chahal is a wily fox who knows how to make most of the Bangalore surface. He is expected to collect a few more wickets and recapture the purple cap from Imran Tahir who has two matches this week compared to Chahal’s three.

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