Thursday, May 22, 2008

The RACE Climax

RACE, the bollywood movie, had more twists and turns before the climax than the world's largest rollercoaster.

It had the viewer hooked and jumping at every shocking turn the movie took.

The IPL RACE has been quite similar.

Soulberry here contemplates who could take the 2 spots that are up for graps in the Final Four, while Homer here revisits his predictions for the Final Four.

The story though is that its not 2 but 3 spots up for grabs.

Apart from the Rajhastan Royals, no one has garanteed a semi final spot yet. Not even the Kings XI after their dramatic 1 run win over the Mumbai Indians.

Plus with RCB shocking the daylights out of the Super Kings just the way their brand amabassador Katrina Kaif did in RACE, anything can happen and everything is open ended.

Any 3 out of the Kings XI, Super Kings, Indians, Daredevils, and the Knight Riders can join the Royals in the Final Four.

The RACE is still on and the climax is near.

But who will make it?

The Knight Riders play the Daredevils tonight. Its a very crucial match for the Riders, because if they lose, the RACE for them is all over. But if they win the RACE goes on. 2 points for the Riders tonight!

Tomorrow its the Kings XI against the Deccan Chargers. Deccan have hardly won, however with RCB's inspirational victory over CSK last night they could be pumped up to get a victory or 2 under their belt. Kings XI are too strong though. 2 points for the Kings XI.

Saturday is a BIG day. Its CSK vs RR and DDD vs MI. That's going to be huge.

CSK would need to win given their loss to RCB last night but the Royals have been on a roll and I don't see them losing before the semi finals, even if they try some new faces. 2 points for the Royals.

DDD and MI, both in the RACE for the semis will be in a must win situation. Soulberry tells me that the Monsoons have hit Delhi and rains could have the final say. Well then I say a point each here.

The 1st match on Sunday, RCB vs DC will be an irrelevant one in the context of the RACE.

The 2nd one though is KKR vs Kings XI and it will be another must win game for the Riders. I'm putting my top dollar on them. KKR will fight it till the end. Another 2 points to KKR.

On Monday we will finally see what we haven't yet in the IPL. As the Indians take on the Royals, it will be the epic battle between Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne. Going with history, I'd give this one to the Indians. 2 points to the Indians.

CSK with their backs towards the wall will take on the Chargers on Tuesday. For them it will be a must win game since KKR and MI would have gone ahead after their victories. But the Chargers in their last game of the tournament will give it everything. I see CSK going down. Sorry Ottayan. 2 points for the Chargers.

Wednesday, the final day of the group stages will see a top of the table clash between the Royals and the Kings XI and an irrelevant match between MI and RCB. 2 Points for RR and MI here.

That then will make the points table look like this:

1. Rajasthan Royals 22
2. Kings XI Punjab 18
3. Mumbai Indians 17
4. Kolkata Knight Riders 14
5. Chennai Super Kings 14
6. Delhi Daredevils 13

KKR have a better NRR currently, and with them winning their next 2 matches, they will maintain that lead.

Now lets say the rains stay away from Delhi and the Daredevils beat the Mumbai Indians. MI will still qualify, but then it will be 3 teams on 14 points - KKR, CSK, and DDD. As of now DDD have the better NRR so it will probably be them nosing ahead of KKR.

Now what if Kings XI lose against the Chargers. They will remain on 16 points then and their NRR will worsen because of 3 consecutive losses.

MI will also be on 16 since the game against DDD was not a washout.

Plus if CSK beat the Royals, it would put them on 16 as well.

And if DDD beat KKR tonight, and they win the game against MI on Saturday, they would be on 16 as well.

KKR will miss out then definitely with 4 teams on 16 points jostling for 3 positions.

The Kings XI could still miss out on NRR.

Mindboggling?

So was the bollywood movie.

The RACE is on and its for 3 places of the Final Four.

Who would have thought that Preity Zinta, Shahrukh Khan, and Mukesh Ambani would be fighting it out with GMR Holdings and India Cements for honours on a cricket field.

Or for that matter Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, and Mahendra Singh Dhoni - each one who has either been a captain or a vice captain of the Indian cricket team - competing for spots in the Final Four.

It is the last week of the IPL group stages and it promises to be the most exciting one.


Make your pitch on this post...



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4 Pitched:

  1. Anonymous said...
     

    Rajasthan,Punjab,Mumbai and Chennai

  2. Anonymous said...
     

    The race for semis is quite clear, who is going to win it all?

  3. Q said...
     

    Looks like it will be those 4 now Wasim. None of the teams I supported are there so it doesn't matter who wins it..

    Only Rajasthan have paki players so I should support them but I just know it that they r going to lose in the semis.

    As one of my friends said - the most expensive team to win it!

  4. Anonymous said...
     

    Don't discount Rajasthan,they are a good team,I think they will reach the finals but it will all depend on who they face in the finals.

    We both had the same favorite teams,DC, KKR and DDD.
    The last one still has an outside chance but I think it will be really hard for them also.

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