Monday, May 18, 2009

The IPL Intensifies Beyond Belief

Well well well, what do we have here.

The Kolkata Knight Rider have won a game, and how.

I think that's one of the highest totals chased in this year's IPL.

Forget the celebrations in the KKR camp tonight, think about the celebrations in the camps of Priety Zinta, Vijay Mallya, Shane Warne, and Adam Gilchrist.

Boy does this open up the race to the semis or what!

From Chennai at 2, to all the way down to Bangalore at 6, only 2 points separate the teams.

2. Chennai Super Kings - Played 13, Points 15
3. Deccan Chargers - Played 13, Points 14
4. Kings XI Punjab - Played 13, Points 14
5. Rajasthan Royals - Played 13, Points 13
6. Royal Challengers Bangalore - Played 12, Points 12

Bangalore is the only team that has 2 matches in hand, so they are probably in with the best chance out of the lot.

Realistically, they can even go ahead of Chennai.

Who would have thought!?

There are so many possible scenarios for the semis right now that its thrown my head into a tizzy.

I'm working on them and will have them up soon.

But gotta tell you - its one hell of a RACE!

Make your pitch on this post...



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14 Pitched:

  1. Gaurav Sethi said...
     

    good thing dyson is nobody's coach, imagine what he would've done with the numbers.

    Now who would Delhi like to play?

  2. Tifosi Guy said...
     

    Well KKR had to get the rub of the green sometime - glad it was against CSK ( even though I want them to qualify for the semi), rather than against RR.

    It's perfect - DD, CSK, RR and DC now seem even more dead cert to qualify for the semis.

    Repeat of last year semi - DD * RR, and then CSK * DC.

    Final predo - DD * CSK, and CSK to nip it :)

  3. Q said...
     

    NC: who would DDD like to play?

  4. Q said...
     

    TG: CSK seem set to get there despite the loss. See latest post.

    DC and RR are going to have it tough. Lets see.

    Something tells me, RCB is getting there.

  5. life_in_binary said...
     

    RCB i dont think so, dont hv the legs to get that far.. though i would'nt mind seeing them in the SF's... for me any team but Punjab!

    My likeliest SF teams are DD, CSK, DC & RR!

  6. Q said...
     

    LIB: Likeliest or rather the ones u wud like to see there? Cos I sure want the 4 u say...

  7. life_in_binary said...
     

    Q,

    bit of both! :) unlike the last IPl where all through the tournament i supported 2 teams, this time around i have no favorites, the only team that i do not support is Punjab!

    To be honest my interest for IPL this season developed only over the last week or so, before that i only kept myself updated with the team positions or who was the highest scorer or wicket taker; the absence of Pakistani players was the reason for the lack of interest and also the fact that during the first few weeks match results were pretty much lopsided. But over the last 10 days or so it has just gone insanely intense and its fun to flip-flop; DC vs KKR you support DC and few days later CSK vs KKR you are rooting for KKR! :)

    one thing that i have noticed and or prolly just missed is the fact that not much has been said about the non-participation of Pakistani players in the IPL, be it the newspapers or the blogs! what there impact if any would have been on the teams and the results? and wether they were rightly treated or was it something more than no-place-for-you-since-we-have-bought-your-replacements?

    i dont think anyone should doubt the 20-20 skills that the pakistani players possess, the stats i know dont paint a complete picture but as of today the top 3 wicket takers in T20 internationals, Position 1 & 2 is held by Pakistanis; In batting top 3 run scorers, Pakistanis are holding position 2 & 3!! and if you look at them as a team then they at the moment have the best winning percentage of the teams who have played more than 10 T20 internationals! So how such players can be ignored and the cricket writers, pundits and who-not keep mum over it is beyond me!!

  8. Q said...
     

    LIB: I am aware of all those stats that u have mentioned, and was waiting for the IPL to be over to do a post on why Pakistan is the favorite for the 20-20 title.

    I have no doubts abt the Pakistani players; abilities when it comes to 20-20, but I can give u a few reason as to why I refrained from talking abt their absence.

    1) Barring sohail tanvir, none of them did anything of note in the IPL last year. They all flopped miserably, while one got caught with drugs in his blood. So I doubt how much difference they could have made to their IPL teams.

    2) The IPL team or the Governing Council cannot be blamed for the absence of the Pakistani players. It was the Pak Govt. that did not allow the players from taking part. The IPL then announced that during the auction the teams will have extra funds to buy more players to replace the Pakistanis, which in my view was fair. You lose employees, u replace them.

    3) By the time the IPL was shifted it was already too late. Maybe more could have been done had the Pakistanis been available for the entire IPL, but it wasn't really worth the hassle for the Paki players or the IPL to fight for their inclusion considering that for the 1st 3 weeks the Pakis wud be busy playing Australia.

    4) The PCB nor the players did enough to try and be included in the IPL. The PCB did nothing for that matter. Was there any pressure on the IPL teams or BCCI or IPL Governing council to include the players. None at all. If that pressure had been there, maybe the media as well as the bloggers would have discussed that matter - the way the pressure on the ICC regarding the world cup is being discussed. But the fact is that the Paki players are only fighting to get their payments, not to be included in the IPL teams.

    Hence, I have stayed away from the topic :-)

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  10. life_in_binary said...
     

    Fair enuff assessment Q but,

    1)Adam Gilchrist and Gibbs too were out of sorts last season but they have made contributions this time, i dont think just because pakistani players did not perfrom last season we should doubt or assume same would be the case this time around as well. Teams like KKR could have used Umar Gul and saved themselves from loosing in the death overs. I know its always easy to say what could have been but ill take last over bowled by Umar Gul over Ajit Agarkar's or Bangla Tiger's anyday! With G. Smith's wretched form this season, i believe RR mite have tinkered with Kamran Akmal opening the innings. My point being there were quite a few possibilities had the Pakistani' been playing.

    2)Yes the Government barred the players from travelling to India but not from playing in the IPL. And as you pointed out the teams were given EXTRA funds to buy new players means they did not have to cancel the contracts of the Pakistani players. were the $650,000 that the DC's had paid to buy Shahid Afridi refunded to the team to buy new players? i dont believe that was the case!

    3) True the PCB did nothing do to help the players (PCB is run by a bunch of incompetants and i dont expect anything from them) but i dont think we should blame the players because they did lodge there protests in hush tones and that is the maximum that they could have done. Had they been more vocal, we both know of our public and media they wouldve labelled them money-hungry!

  11. Q said...
     

    LIB:

    1) Thats a fair call. We don't know how they would have performed this year.

    2) The teams had a ceiling on how much they could spend on the players. I think it was $4million.. not sure.. they were not refunded the $650K (in Afridi's case) but they were allowed to buy players for that amount.. i.e. $650K was deducted from their cieling. Hence with taking back the Pakis would have meant going over the ceiling. I dont think that wud have been such a big deal, but I do believe both the IPL teams and the Pak players would have done more to get themselves included had the Pakis been available for the entire tournament.

    3) The fact remains that the Pak players did not do much to get involved with the IPL. Their only concern in the hushed tones they made was to get their dues. Not to play.

    again, i think more hue and cry would have been made of this if the Pakis wud have been available for the entire IPL.

    On that note, John Buchanan missed the Pakis:

    http://thenews.jang.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=178311

  12. life_in_binary said...
     

    yeah i read abt that lastnight. Funny that it took him losing 11 games on trot to realise that!

    You are right the players should have made more noise about it but i also very strongly believe that irrespective of under what circumstances the Pakis could not appear in the IPL, the media be it print or electronic should have shown interest on the issue, they failed to do so! if not fight for them, the least that could have been done was to show support to them; a simple liner like "ipl misses the pakis" would have made people like me happy, sorry if i sound too patriotic but that is just what i feel.

    We should not forget that end of the day it was not the players who decided there own fate, it was the Governments on both sides, the PCB, the governing body of the IPL!

  13. life_in_binary said...
     

    and yes if the Pakistani players were to appear in IPL for the entire duration of it, things mite have been a lil different then! :)

    so you going to lords? :)

  14. Q said...
     

    LIB: I know what ur getting at.. but maybe the world did not miss the Pakistanis in the IPL.. barring a few ofcourse.. I would have a lot more had I not seen them in action against Australia..

    But i think it might have done the Pakis some good staying away wrt the 20-20 WC. I'll have a post on that soon.

    Lord's depends on the visa.. if i get it by thursday i fly out. Event is on Friday.. of not then guess not.

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