Thursday, May 8, 2008

Its Strange. Its Unpredictable. Its Mindboggling. Its the IPL!

So the Mumbai Indians beat the Rajhastan Royals last night. The minnows of the IPL beat the Australia of the IPL. Oh wait I said they were the Kiwis, but they sure were playing like the Aussies. What happened last night?

This Indian Premier League has been strange and unpredictable.

Mumbai Indians lost 4 matches on the trot and the world wrote them off. Captain injured, stand-in captain a slapper, 3rd choice captain a vegetable, everything was going wrong and then they won their next 3.

Chennai Super Kings won 4 matches on the trot and everyone thought that they were the hottest team of the tournament. Dhoni was the man, Joginder Sharma was his man, they couldn't lose, and then they lost the next 3.

Kolkata Knight Riders started off looking invincible beating RCB and DC. Shahrukh Khan even went on to say that they will win the title. We supported them, you supported them, SRK felt like the King of the world. But then they lost their next 4 and everyone realised that they had only beaten the bottom 2 teams on the table.

Strange?

Wait there's more.

Rajhastan Royals lost their 1st match and everyones beliefs about them being the weakest team in the tournament were confirmed. But then, they won their next 5. They looked RED HOT, they looked like Australia, they had the best captain that never captained an international side, they were the only team who played like a unit, they were enjoyng their cricket, they were invincible, and then, they lost to Mumbai.

Kings XI Punjab lost their first 2 matches and just when you thought that Preity was about to break down into tears, she decided to hug her men and they won their next 5 on the trot. How many bets that they will lose their next one?

Delhi Daredevils won their first 2 matches by 9 wickets, and just when they looked like the strongest team in the IPL, they lost to the Kings XI, who had lost their previous 2 matches. They then won 2 more, looked very very strong, and then they lost to Mumbai, who had lost their previous 4 matches.

Unpredictable?

Surely. But thats not all.

Only Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Deccan Chargers have been consistent.

They haven't won anything.

Oh no they have! Both beat Mumbai, who have now won their last 3 with the last 2 against the top 2 sides. The Challengers beat the Chargers as well, only just though, the 2 weakest teams were separated by 3 runs!

Mind Boggling?

But it ain't over.

They all play each other once more starting today!

Every team has won a match. Every team has lost atleast 2 matches. The 1st half of home and away group matches is over and the next half of reciprocating the home and away begins today. Every team has played the other apart from KKR and DD. No team has been consistent and results have been unpredicable. Some matches have been one sided but not in favor of the stronger team as is the case when Australia plays the ICC World Cups.

Whats going on?

Are all the teams equally strong? Or is this just the nature of the 20-20 form of cricket? Does anyone sense fixing? Or are the teams just playing good cricket on some days and not so good on others?

Whatever is the case, its been exciting. Its been strange, unpredictable, and mindboggling, but its been a great experience.

This is the IPL and its only half over.

The Points Table.

The semifinal predictions (although no sane man will make predictions for such a tournament, but just for the heck of it): Delhi Daredevils, Kings XI Punjab, Rajhastan Royals, Mumbai Indians.

But I want to see the Riders and the Chargers there! Oh well who knows.

What are your predictions?

Make your pitch on this post...



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7 Pitched:

  1. David Barry said...
     

    Or are the teams just playing good cricket on some days and not so good on others?
    When you have closely-matched teams like those in the IPL, the "best team on the day" is pretty much a coin-toss.

    Every batsman is going to make, over their career, a lot of low scores. This is especially so in T20, where the run rate is so high. Sometimes, just by luck, most of your batsmen will make a low score on the same day. The result is a batting collapse.

  2. Q said...
     

    I knew I was going to get that from you DB.

    For those who haven't, I suggest you read DB's Luck.

    http://pappubahry.blogspot.com/2008/05/luck.html

    It will be interesting to see if the points table at the end of the groups stage ends up looking like DBs.

  3. Viswanathan said...
     

    CSK for the Cup. Go CSK!

  4. Gaurav Sethi said...
     

    more scores of less than 150 in the last week. fatigue setting in.

  5. Aashrey said...
     

    Exactly the same as mine.

    I'd thought Mumbai would have picked up some time or the other.

  6. Anonymous said...
     

    Punjab, Rajasthan, Delhi and DC for semis. I have a feeling DC will start well now.

    NC,
    I think the low scores are probably because the bowlers are getting a hang of IPL. They are learning how to bowl in T20

  7. Q said...
     

    I agree Trideep, the bowlers have learnt a trick or 2 as the IPL has gone along. Not only that but the captains have also been smarter switching and shifting their bowlers around, not letting the batsmen settle.

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