Tushar Deshpande moved up in the Purple Cap race with a wicket against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Saturday. The CSK paceman claimed the wicket of Dinesh Karthik, and with 17 scalps, he is now placed in the fourth spot in the tight race. However, he won’t fight anymore for the coveted cap as CSK have been eliminated from the tournament after suffering a defeat against RCB by 27 runs.
Punjab Kings seamer Harshal Patel continued to top the coveted tally, and he will get another chance to extend his lead on Sunday. The 2021 Purple Cap winner has already claimed 22 wickets, two more than second-placed Jasprit Bumrah, who is second with 20 scalps. Bumrah’s campaign is also over, as Mumbai Indians got knocked out quite early from the playoffs race and finished the season at the bottom of the table. Bumrah was the standout bowler for MI, as he did incredibly well in terms of controlling the scoring rate of the opposition.
Meanwhile, KKR spinner Varna Chakravarthy is in the reckoning to get the coveted cap as he has claimed 18 wickets in 12 matches and with his team finishing top of the table he will play at least three more matches this season including their last league stage match against Rajasthan Royals.
CSK’s Deshpande has pipped Yuzvendra Chahal in the tally to move to fourth spot but both of them have the same tally – 16 wickets, however, the RR spinner has an inferior economy rate at the moment.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru defeated defending champions Chennai Super Kings by 27 runs to secure the fourth and final play-off spot in the IPL 2024. They had to won the match by 18 runs and they managed to do it in a thrilling clash.
Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad had already qualified for the play-offs.
