Capital gains,and losses,so far

* Pradeep Sangwan (Delhi Daredevils): The Delhi left-arm seamer hasn’t proved to be the perfect foil for opening bowlers Dirk Nannes and Farveez Maharoof. Bowling in the crucial middle overs of the innings,Sangwan has scalped only three wickets so far from four matches,going at a shade above eight runs an over. He was dropped from the last game,as he couldn’t fill in for veteran Ashish Nehra’s absence.

* Shikhar Dhawan (Mumbai Indians): Sanath Jayasuriya’s presence ensured Shikhar Dhawan warmed the dug- out bench for the first three games of the season,but a steady drop in form gave the Delhi opener a chance in the fourth game against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Brabourne Stadium. Saving close to 20 runs on the field in the first innings to lend a big help to restrict the visitors to 155,Dhawan shared an opening stance of 61 runs with Sachin Tendulkar before the seventh over. Dhawan smashed all his four boundaries against a raging Shane Bond,looking in no trouble whatsoever against the fastest bowler in the tournament in his 21-ball 24.

* Rajat Bhatia (Delhi Daredevils): His explosive power with the bat was put on display in the home game against the Chennai Super Kings,the only match he has played in the tournament so far. Batting lower down the order,Bhatia saved Delhi from further humiliation by smashing two sixes and a four at the fag end of the innings. But while the Delhi all-rounder was also the first bowler to get smashed for a boundary by Matthew Hayden’s Mongoose,destroying his bowling figures (0/31 in two overs).

* Mithun Manhas (Delhi Daredevils): Manhas has been the mainstay of the Delhi middle-order,featuring in every Delhi match so far while scoring 83 runs at a strike-rate of 123.88. Manhas has also made sure that he sees the Delhi innings off until the end of the 20 overs while batting with the tail,as he has finished with three not outs in five innings. Brave on the field,Manhas has also been to the stop-gap man in the bowling order,chipping in with a couple of economical overs in every other game.

* Sumit Narwal (Rajasthan Royals): In his first season of the Indian Premier League,Rajasthan Royals’s Sumit Narwal had the worst possible start in the game against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Batting in the first innings,Narwal’s golden duck dismissal will always be remembered for being the second wicket of the Praveen Kumar hat-trick as his team collapsed to 92 all out in the penultimate ball of the innings. With the ball,Narwal was not any better,giving away the winning runs in his third over,while going for 24 runs overall,as Bangalore won by 10 wickets,embarrassing Rajasthan in 11th over of the second innings.

* India’s internationals: Although coach Ray Jennings believes he is the next captain of the side,Virat Kohli hasn’t had much to do for his side due to a strong Royal Challengers Bangalore top-order. Kohli has scored just 35 runs in four games at an average of 17.50 runs.

Ishant Sharma started off the tournament well under the watchful eyes of Kolkata’s bowling coach Wasim Akram,but had drifted away by the end of the Mumbai Indians game,going for the most boundaries in the tournament so far. Sharma has picked six wickets at an economy rate of 8.65.

Gautam Gambhir started off the tournament on several highs. He was the new captain of the Delhi Daredevils while he also propelled his team to a five-wicket victory with his top score of 71. But a hamstring injury saw him miss two games for Delhi,both of which were lost in his absence.

There isn’t much one can say about Virender Sehwag playing in a format that almost seems devised for his explosiveness. Yet as he currently lies third in the top run-getters list with 186 runs in five matches with two 70+ scores,the three-figure mark still manages to elude him.