Vijay takes the reins

Axar roars in Lions' den

'Tis the season of injuries

Paul Adams II

The new chase master

TOI brings you the major highlights from the third week of 2016 Indian Premier League which witnessed Rising Pune Supergiants lose their three important overseas players to injuries and KXIP ringing in captaincy change midway through the season. David Miller wouldn't have imagined his stint as the Kings XI Punjab captain would be off to a horrible start culminating into five defeats in six matches. Strategic acumen wasn't the only trait deserting him. His leadership woes coincided with a wretched batting form that resulted in 76 runs in six matches. Promptly, a shake-up followed and he was relieved of captaincy duties. In his stead, KXIP put their faith in Murali Vijay . And his first assignment was to deal with the IPL 9 table-toppers Gujarat Lions. He passed that stern test with flying colours, handing Suresh Raina his second defeat of the season. He led the way with a brisk half-century and then used his bowlers well to reduce Lions to 39/5 in chase of 154. KXIP went on to win by 23 runs. It's still early to call this as a turnaround as there are certain areas where significant improvements are imperative. Will Vijay's appointment result in the change of fortunes? Signs are positive. Wait and watch. Axar Patel was instrumental in scripting KXIP's first win in four matches. In five deliveries, he all but sealed the fate of the match. After an uneventful first over, during a phase where Vijay used five different bowlers in the Powerplays, Axar returned for his second, right after the fielding restrictions were lifted. And he accounted for the wickets of Dwayne Smith, Dinesh Karthik and Dwayne Bravo in the over – the last two off his fifth and sixth delivery. Meanwhile, Vijay continued to shuffle his bowlers around and it meant Axar would have to wait till the 11th over before having a crack at the hat-trick. On strike was Ravindra Jadeja. A faint edge was induced and the wicketkeeper took it. Axar roared and roared. The umpire thought and then thought some more. To the delight of KXIP fans, the dreaded finger was raised and the first hat-trick of the season was taken. The disappointment of a duck was washed away with the match-winning spell in which the left-arm spinner took four wickets for 21 runs and deservedly chosen as the man-of-the-match.Not only are IPL newbie Rising Pune Supergiants finding it hard to win matches, they are losing players at an alarming rate. By Monday morning, they lost four of their major overseas signings to injuries. The jinx began with Kevin Pietersen tearing his calf muscle against Royal Challengers Bangalore on April 22. It was 'over & out, India' for him the next day. MS Dhoni put a positive spin to it saying it might come as a blessing in disguise. Five days later, Faf du Plessis broke his finger which ended his season as well. Mitchell Marsh , who has a history of injuries, followed him to the exit door with a side strain. The following day, Steven Smith, the third batsman this IPL to score a century, followed his Australian team-mate to home after injuring his wrist. Two wins in eight matches combined with the unavailability of four key players. Can it get any worse? Dhoni is surely finding life difficult as the captain of a new team after enjoying much success with Chennai Super Kings. Meanwhile, a back injury has also cut down Shaun Marsh 's season. One of the reasons why IPL 9 will be remembered for is the spate of injuries to international players.It was a throwback to the mid 90s and early 2000s when Gujarat Lions gave debut to spinner Shivil Kaushik , whose peculiar bowling action has an uncanny resemblance to former South Africa international Paul Adams. Kaushik, a 20-year-old left-arm bowler made for an interesting sight everytime he came on to bowl against Supergiants on Friday. In his delivery stride, the umpire is the only referencing point to make out which direction he is going to bowl. While he sent Twitter abuzz with his odd action, the bowler himself finds the comparison with Adams unfair. He calls himself original and Adams agrees. Original or not, Kaushik has surely made an impression. While the buzz on debut was around his action, he made the headlines with his performance against KXIP in his second with three wickets in four overs.Virat Kohli has some competition for the title of the chase master. And it's his India team-mate Rohit Sharma who has presented him with the challenge. For his franchise Mumbai Indians, Rohit Sharma has hit five fifties this season. All five of them have come in chase with four in winning causes. The first was against Kolkata Knight Riders at his favorite Eden Gardens, the second against RCB in Mumbai and the third came in a defeat to Delhi Daredevils. When it was Mumbai's turn to play hosts to KKR, Rohit again was at the forefront, leading the successful chase with an unbeaten 68 and on Maharashtra Day, guided his team to their fifth win of the season through his 60-ball 85 not out vs Pune. With 383 runs, he is just three runs behind the Orange Cap holder David Warner. Kohli, take note.