IPL 2021: 3 best bowling performances from Week 3
Bowlers have taken a backseat as the Indian Premier League (IPL) caravan has moved from Chennai and Mumbai to Delhi and Ahmedabad.
With both new venues playing true and giving batsmen the opportunity to notch up sizeable scores, bowlers' performances have suffered a bit. However, the change in conditions has given certain quality players the opportunity to show why they're regarded so highly in the T20 format.
Here, we rank the 3 best bowling performances from Week 3 of IPL 2021. Note: Matches from PBKS vs MI (Match 17) to PBKS vs RCB (Match 26) have been considered for the purposes of this article.
#3 Harpreet Brar (3/19 in 4 overs, IPL 2021 Match 26 - PBKS vs RCB)
Playing his first game of IPL 2021, Harpreet Brar exceeded all expectations to finish with a complete all-round performance and the Man of the Match award.
After the Punjab Kings suffered a familiar middle-order collapse, Brar added some handy runs at the end of the innings and gave skipper KL Rahul company at the crease. But it was with the ball that he truly excelled.
Brar was expensive in his first two overs, but he castled Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli off the first ball of his third over. He followed it up with a beauty to dismiss the dangerous Glenn Maxwell, before returning to dismiss AB de Villiers and drill the final nail in RCB's coffin.
Brar took a catch too, and was adjudged the Man of the Match.
#2 Ravindra Jadeja (3/13 in 4 overs, IPL 2021 Match 19 - CSK vs RCB)
If Brar's all-round performance was sensational, Ravindra Jadeja's showing against the same opposition - RCB - was nothing short of otherworldly. He took 37 off the final over of the CSK innings to record his highest IPL score and take the team to an above-par score.
Then, Jadeja dismantled the backbone of the RCB batting lineup on a pitch that offered him turn and bounce. Washington Sundar holed out in the deep off the left-arm spinner, who went on to disturb the timber of Glenn Maxwell and Virat Kohli. He was unplayable on the night in both departments in what is undoubtedly one of the best-ever all-round displays in IPL history.
#1 Chris Morris (4/24 in 4 overs, IPL 2021 Match 18 - RR vs KKR)
In the absence of Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer, the Rajasthan Royals needed their senior players to step up. And that's exactly what Chris Morris did against the Kolkata Knight Riders in Match 18.
KKR never really got any momentum going over the course of their innings, with Rahul Tripathi being the only man in the top five to strike at over a run-a-ball. But with less than half the innings to go and two destructive batsmen in the middle, KKR seemed primed to launch.
Morris had something to say about that, though. In the 18th over, he had Andre Russell caught on the boundary to continue his impressive record against the big West Indian. He dismissed Dinesh Karthik off the final ball of the very same over, before taking the wickets of Pat Cummins and Shivam Mavi in the final over of the KKR innings.
RR cruised home in the run-chase, and Morris was awarded the Man of the Match for his efforts.