Yuvraj Singh | 68* (29 balls) v Delhi Daredevils Just how dangerous is Yuvraj Singh? One doesn’t have to go as far as Stuart Broad circa 2007 to answer that. Delhi Daredevils’ Rahul Shukla and Imran Tahir will back that up. Last Tuesday, spectators at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium were treated to some spectacular hitting by the southpaw. It wasn’t all muscle like one sees from Chris Gayle. In Yuvraj Singh’s case, it is the gift of timing combined with bat speed; and that is what captivates spectators. The first signs that he was in his element came in the 17th over when he picked a flatter delivery from Imran Tahir early, went down on one knee and flat-batted it over the square-leg fence. The next delivery – wide outside off - sailed over the cover boundary, purely by virtue of timing. He picked the following delivery and hit it into the stands above the sight screen. Mohammed Shami made the cardinal sin of bowling full on his pads, and Yuvraj obliged by whipping it into the stands backward of square-leg. He hit four sixes in the final over of the innings too – bowled by Rahul Shukla. There were two crisp hits on the off-side – one over extra-cover and one over long-off, and two sixes to the leg-side (two pull shots struck over midwicket and square-leg). It was Yuvraj Singh magic all over again at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium – a venue where he became the only player in cricket World Cup history to score a half-century and take five wickets in the same match. Robin Uthappa | 80 (52 balls) v Mumbai Indians Robin Uthappa’s innings against the Mumbai Indians deserves to be in the spotlight not only for the runs he scored (80) or for the rate at which he scored them (strike-rate 153.85), but for the manner in which he scored them. For most part of his career, the 28-year-old had this habit of walking across his stumps, head falling over, making him a candidate for lbw. On Wednesday, he played the way an opener is expected to – offering the full face of the bat more often than not. That the long-off region was his most-productive one – with 23 runs coming in that area. This illustrates how disciplined he was. There were drives down the ground, over the fielder at mid-off and wide of the man in the ring. Even when he decided to go for maximum, he offered the straight bat; two of his three sixes were hit straight down the ground, while the third was hit over extra cover. If ever there was an opener’s innings in Twenty20 cricket played per the coaching, Uthappa’s knock was it. Sunil Narine | 4-0-18-1 v Mumbai Indians Just numbers do not illustrate how good Sunil Narine was against the Mumbai Indians. Irrespective of when he bowls or the playing conditions, batsmen – who are left guessing if the ball will jag back into them or spin away – can’t seem to get him away for runs. His first over in the match against MI – the fifth of the innings – only cost three runs, despite batsmen having the advantage of field restrictions. His second over (the 15th of the innings) was his most expensive over in the match, costing him only six runs despite having to bowl to two well-set batsmen – Rohit Sharma and Corey Anderson. When bowling in the death, one expected the MI batsmen would take a few chances, upset the rhythm of the bowler, and score a few more runs. That was not to be, as the Trinidadian conceded only nine runs in his final two overs, and returned with the scalp of Rohit Sharma. Narine was certainly disciplined and that paid off. But it appears that he perhaps cast a spell over the batsmen even before they set foot on the field. AB de Villiers trumps MS Dhoni in the popularity charts It has seldom happened that MS Dhoni has fallen behind in the popularity charts. Whether he’s playing in the India jersey or the CSK colours, Dhoni is among the most followed and popular players around the world. It, therefore, came as a surprise when he was defeated in the Player Battle on Twitter in Match 42 of Pepsi IPL 2014. The CSK skipper received 40 percent of the votes, while his opponent – Royal Challengers Bangalore’s AB de Villiers – got a 60 percent fan approval. Chris Gayle gets cheeky

One usually associates Chris Gayle with quick runs, muscular blows and frequent big hits. The Jamaican holds the record for hitting the most sixes in the T20 format (and in the IPL), scoring the most centuries and scoring his runs at an incredible strike-rate of 148.26. The 34-year-old has struggled for fluency for most part of Pepsi IPL 2014. In RCB’s match against the Chennai Super Kings, he found the going extremely tough yet again, especially against the spinners, who kept him on a tight leash. But the big Jamaican found a way to break the shackles; perhaps for the first time in his career, he played the reverse-sweep. Facing Suresh Raina, who was bowling from around the wicket, Gayle – with his big frame – got into a very unusual stance while attempting to play the reverse-sweep. But most importantly, he made contact with the ball, got enough power into the stroke and split the field on the off-side to pick up a boundary. It was one of those “You’ve got to see it to believe it” moments!