IPL 2022, Orange Cap holders: Shikhar Dhawan breaks into top three, Jos Buttler holds top spot – Firstcricket News, Firstpost

The Punjab Kings all but ended Chennai Super Kings’ hopes of making it to the IPL 2022 playoffs. PBKS beat the defending champions by 11 runs on Monday at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The victory took PBKS to the sixth spot in the IPL points table with 8 points in as many matches. CSK, however, were dealt a heavy blow. The Ravindra Jadeja-led side had kept their hopes well and truly alive by a confidence-boosting last-ball victory over Mumbai Indians but the defeat last night against PBKS meant they have almost no hope of finishing in the top four.

The four-time IPL winners now stand with 4 points in 8 matches and even if they win all of their remaining six matches – which seems rather unlikely considering their recent form – it still won’t guarantee a top-four finish as CSK would then have to look at other teams’ performance and net run rate.

Shikhar Dhawan now has 302 runs in 8 matches with an average of 43 and a strike rate of 132.
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Two veterans of Indian cricket – Shikhar Dhawan and Ambati Rayudu – stole the limelight with their brilliant batting in the CSK vs PBKS encounter. Dhawan, who was playing his 200th IPL match, achieved a number of milestones on his way to an unbeaten 88-run knock that saw him climb to the third spot in the IPL 2022 orange cap holder’s list for the highest run-getter of the tournament.

There were no changes at the top of the orange cap list at the beginning of the fifth week as Rajasthan Royals’ Jos Buttler continued to enjoy a strong lead. Buttler, with three hundreds in the tournament, has scored 491 runs in 7 matches so far at a staggering average of 81.83 and a strike rate of 161.51.

Buttler is followed by Lucknow Super Giants captain KL Rahul, who has notched up 368 runs in 8 matches. Rahul too has two centuries to his name in the 15th edition of IPL.

At number four is Gujarat Titans captain Hardik Pandya with 298 runs in 6 appearances. The India all-rounder has been very impressive with the bat for IPL debutants.

Mumbai Indians’ Tilak Varma is the only uncapped cricketer in the top five of the orange cap list. The young left-hander has scored 272 runs in 8 matches at an average of 45.

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