IPL Semifinals Redux
By Ananth
May 19 2008
Ananth reviews the standings of the various teams a couple of weeks before the semifinals and finals, and gives us his take on who the favorites are. Surprisinlgy only two out of the four likely semifinalists at this point are the ones the author had predicted at the start of the tournament. The exceptions being the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Delhi Daredevils who have blown hot and cold.
In the IPL homefield does seem to matter; most of the contending teams have an excellent home records and relatively poor away records. The only contender that has been indifferent at home/away has been the Chennai SuperKings who have identical records home and away. This could be due MS Dhoni the skipper & icon not being a local lad.
Likely semifinalists ranked in order:
1) Rajasthan: 8-2, 4 to be played.
Away: Kolkata, Chennai, Punjab
Home: Mumbai
The Royals have won all 6 home games and they have 1 more against Mumbai who've lost all their away games so far. They are already in, as I don't think more than 4 teams can win 8 games.
2) Punjab: 6-3, 5 to be played.
Away: Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata
Home: Deccan, Rajasthan
Punjab have won 4 of 5 at home with 2 more home games with Deccan coming in.
3) Chennai: 6-4, 4 to be played.
Away: Kolkata, Deccan
Home: Bangalore, Rajasthan
They have identical home & road records(3-2) and they have two softies Deccan & Bangalore with Bangalore at home. The NRR is a concern, they should see if they can get Bangalore to oblige for a pistol whipping(quite possible).
4) Delhi: 5-5, 4 to be played.
Away: Bangalore
Home: Punjab, Kolkata, Mumbai
Delhi have won 3 of 4 at home with the one loss coming off the last ball and they have 3 more home games and the away game is at Bangalare. You do the math.
5) Kolkata: 5-5, 4 to be played.
Away: Delhi
Home: Chennai, Rajasthan, Punjab
They've won 3-4 at the Eden Gardens where the pitch seems to suit their attack. They should be glad that they have 3 games at home, but no game is a gimme.
6) Mumbai: 5-4, 5 to be played.
Away: Deccan, Delhi, Rajasthan, Bangalore
Home: Punjab
Mumbai can still make it, but they need to win atleast 3 more games methinks. They have won all their 5 games at home. That makes me think, they'll need a bit of a miracle. Also Dwayne Bravo probably leaves soon for the first Test against Australia.
I think we can safely say Bangalore and Deccan have no chance of making the semis.
Mumbai now need to win atleast 2 of their 5 games with winning 3 making them a lock..
the game has got lot tougher for KNR now..
need to win atleast 2 and there are no easy games... All top teams and they may win 1 and if lucky 2 of the 4 more games...
But Chennai needs to be careful as even a bit of slacking can mean they miss out on semis as their NRR is pretty bad... that can't happen as Chennai is detined to win the IPL title as their ICL guys did...
They have JACK @#$%& in terms of Batting
Delhi is a strange case...they have the BEST openers... a strong middle and superb bowlers in McGrath, Asif, Maharoof, etc... it seems Sehwag and/or Coach Shipperd have not been doing their homework...
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ICL Ko Support Karo Yaro...
BCCI Ko Joote Chappal Maro....
But to be fair it was against Bangalore the WORST team in the league...
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ICL Ko Support Karo Yaro...
BCCI Ko Joote Chappal Maro....
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ICL Ko Support Karo Yaro...
BCCI Ko Joote Chappal Maro....
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ICL Ko Support Karo Yaro...
BCCI Ko Joote Chappal Maro....
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ICL Ko Support Karo Yaro...
BCCI Ko Joote Chappal Maro....
Delhi, Punjab, Rajasthan and Chennai - 3 from way up north and 1 from way down south, nothing in between! That might mean something if there was any locality to the teams. At least Delhi and Punjab have home town boys running their teams.
If not for umpire Shastri, Mumbai should have made it. After Bhajji's exit they seemed to turn around pretty quickly.
They have a formidable opening combo in Gambo and Veeru and Terrific bowling in McGrath, Maharoof, Asif, Yo Mahesh, Mishra...
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ICL Ko Support Karo Yaro...
BCCI Ko Joote Chappal Maro....
so its is 50-50...
its like Chennai like Kings XI bowling...
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ICL Ko Support Karo Yaro...
BCCI Ko Joote Chappal Maro....