Some familiar things have started to click, such as the Sunrisers Hyderabad attack. And Gujarat Titans are an unfamiliar presence in first place in their first season.
Umran Malik is blazing the pace trail, while conditions have shown the first hint of becoming less skewed.
We take a look at the third week of the Indian Premier League 2022.
The SRH bowling juggernaut is here
Sunrisers have almost always had one of the strongest bowling attacks in the IPL.
With the exit of Afghan leggie Rashid Khan, though, there were doubts over whether they would be able to retain their edge. After opening this season with a couple of losses, the doubts only increased.
But Sunrisers have since gone on to win their next four matches, with the bowlers restricting the opposition to chaseable totals every time.
For now, they seem to have everything covered, especially in a wonderfully varied seam attack. Bhuvneshwar Kumar brings the white-ball pedigree and experience, and young Umran Malik the raw pace as he sends down thunderbolts touching 150kph.
There are two completely different left-armers in T Natarajan and Marco Jansen. Washington Sundar is a lead spinner naturally suited to this format, and leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal and left-arm spinner J Suchith are fine back-ups.
The likes of Aiden Markram and Abhishek Sharma are more than capable part-timers.
Their pacers have enjoyed the early-season fresh pitches. As the pitches begin to tire, however, Sunrisers’ spinners will be tested more.
They have also had the cushion of bowling on larger outfields until now, but four of their remaining matches are at Wankhede Stadium where the smaller boundaries will be a new challenge.
The joy of watching Umran Malik
Half a decade ago, Umran Malik had never played with the leather ball. The rise has been swift and sure; he came in as net bowler at Sunrisers and was drafted in as covid replacement for Natarajan last season.
He impressed enough to bowl in the Indian team nets before the 2021 T20 World Cup and was also fast-tracked into the India ‘A’ squad for the tour of South Africa.
And although last season was little more than a display of his raw pace and talent, the Kashmiri tearaway has already added some smarts this time.
Which has instantly made him dangerous rather than a run-leaking risk; no batter likes the ball coming for his throat at 150kph, especially if the outfield is large enough to prevent mishit swipes from flying for six.
He is yet to massively swing or seam the ball, those skills will take time to be acquired and mastered; but the mere fact that he is now able to land it short of a length instead of attacking the stumps on the full all the time is a threat big enough for batters.
It is a sight to see all five deep fielders, in a T20, being posted behind square on both sides of the wicket when Umran Malik is charging in and letting the bouncer rip.
And, of course, despite varying his lengths, he loves nothing more than seeing the stumps fly after nailing those yorkers. He did that twice off successive deliveries against Punjab Kings on Sunday afternoon.
Trend-changing week?
As we progress towards the halfway stage of the league, there was an indication that the overwhelming odds in favour of the side batting second may have begun to shift.
In the week before the last one, the nine games had been settled 6-3 for the chasing teams. But last week, the side that set a target actually won more games - five - than the side pursuing a total - four.
And from those four matches, three were aced by Sunrisers, whose attack, as discussed above, has begun to find the rhythm that can make it unstoppable in slightly favourable conditions.
Perhaps a lesser attack could have struggled to help set a gettable target, which would have made the trend even more skewed towards the team batting first. And the shift was visible across all four venues - Wankhede and Brabourne (Mumbai), DY Patil (Navi Mumbai) and Maharashtra Cricket Association (Pune) stadiums.
It may not be something that sustains; dew could still play a huge part on some nights, although the ground authorities have had some success with keeping it at bay with the special chemical they sprinkle on the grass before the start of evening matches.
Whatever turns out to be the case, the week gone by was a welcome change from the onslaught of moisture-fuelled monster chases.
No jitters for Gujarat
How would Gujarat Titans fare in their maiden IPL? Fellow debutants Lucknow Super Giants had clearly done better at the auction. Plus, GT also had a debutant captain in Hardik Pandya, who by his own admission, hadn’t led any major side in any format after the Under-16 level.
Close to the halfway stage, and GT are on top of the points table, with five wins in six games.
Shubman Gill has struck the ball like a dream at the top of the order, and he’s done it at a quicker tempo. Hardik has adapted to a new position at No 4 with remarkable application, and David Miller has started to find the middle of the bat at the death.
Rashid Khan has added tennis-ball style pyrotechnics with the bat to his customary miserly four overs. And Lockie Ferguson and Mohammed Shami are a handful across formats.
The dangerous Rahul Tewatia is always lurking in the background. The bonus from a national-team perspective has been Hardik bowling his full quota at his normal pace without hiccups.
For a first-timer on the big stage, his captaincy in the middle has been creditable, although he’s understandably taken longer to set fields.
Through Tewatia earlier and Rashid against CSK on Sunday, they have found someone willing to drag the team across the line from improbable situations.
That is the sign of a crack unit in the making. How deep into the long season can they sustain this early momentum?
