It`s been a week of the 18th season of the IPL and already we are seeing what the future looks like. Last year the Hyderabad team gave us more than a glimpse of it by putting a capital P in power and play. That template is now being emulated or attempted by all the other teams who have seen how a flying start can take the game away from the opposition even before the stadium is totally filled up. Yes, there can be a crash landing too as the Hyderabad team found out in their second game against Lucknow. 

Don’t allow big partnerships

That said, unless the pitch starts helping spin from the first over, we will see more 70-plus runs in the Powerplay than we have seen in all the IPL editions so far. Captains and bowlers will have to be very smart about what the lines and lengths should be to get early wickets and put a speed bump on the scoring. Not allowing a big partnership to develop and getting wickets as regularly as the speed breakers on Vizag roads is one sure way of restricting the opposition to a decent score.