Friday, April 19, 2013

IPL6: Who will reach Qualifiers?


IPL6 is a hit already with only one third of league games just got concluded. This season has already seen some fascinating contests, last ball finishes, hat-tricks, super overs and also some one-sided games. Overall this season has something special over the earlier versions due to the kind of balanced pitches used during this tournament so far. Unlike earlier versions, pitches being used in this season provides equal opportunities to both bowlers and batsmen and I am even tempted to say bowlers have  enjoyed more success than batsmen so far.

Having played at least 5 games apiece every team divulged their strengths and their weaknesses too are exposed. With handful results in hand predicting top 4 teams of this season now is fairly easier than doing this exercise before match one. At the same time its also difficult to precisely predict 4 out off 4 as this format is so unpredictable that a single player could beat a strong team on his day. So it will be fun comparing what you had predicted earlier with what had actually happened at the end of the tournament. That is exactly what I am trying to do.

The shocking surprise of this tournament is team Delhi Daredevils. Its inexplicable to figure out what is going wrong to this team. Perhaps they had lost both KP and Jessy before this season begins. But that does not explain this dismal performance as this team still have got number of match winners.They neither a weak team to loose 6 manes in a row nor have a strong batting line up to win 9 out off 10 games to push them to top 4. I hope they would have stop thinking (even stop dreaming) about getting qualified for knock out stages. Now their objective should be finding a decent position in bottom of the table at the end and if possible crushing some one's semifinal dream. Base on my observation chances for this team to make to the knock out stages is 5%

Next is the Kings XI Punjab(10% of chances). This is the only team which I am sure will not advance to the next stage. They do not have the right team to be consistent through out this tournament. I am sure they are going to slump sooner than later as the tournament progresses.

Sunrisers Hyderabad(20%):
It is good to see them having  more than a decent debut season so far. Sunriser's strength is their bowling which could comfortably challenge any strong batting line up particularly in this season which offers something to every one. but their batting is too weak to match their substantial bowling line up. I give 20% to this team only for their bowling.

Pune Warriers (35%): YUVI,Uthapa,Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rahul Sharma,Ashok Dinda,Manish Panday, Abhishek Nayar and Mithun Manhas. Interesting list is not it. This team consist of notable names to fill 7 domestic players slots and also names on overseas list also quite good. By and large they are strong team on papers but the results do not reflect the same. Unfortunately this team had suffered more losses (11 on the trot) which would play a huge role on their confidence and current form of some of the players and notably their captain's form are all worrying sign for this paper tigers.

Rajasthan Royals (50%): A team of thoughtfully picked overseas players, Handful of Indian international players and bits&pieces crickets who can chip in. This team can perform more than what is expected on them. Unlike RCB or MI this does not posses many big names on their squad but its a decent team who can beat any team on their day. Having lead by MR.Cricket who has been consistent in every IPL season Rajasthan Royals could surprise many by reaching next stage.



KKR(65%): Defending champions. Possess a rich group of overseas players. Their lower middle order is weaker and they largely dependent on Sunil Narine for wickets.
they may sweat a lot to earn the semifinal spot from Rajasthan and Pune.

Mumbai Indians(75%): Overall a very good team. Depth in their batting order is their biggest strength. The biggest concern is their not firing opening pair. undoubtedly they are nonpareil opening pair yet to open their account. You may expect them to catch up as the tournament progresses.  Except Dinesh Karthik all their batsmen have been fairly inconsistent. As this team possess everything a strong team should need you can see them sail through comfortably

RCB(90%): T20 is the game uncertainty and this team had proved this number of occasions. They posses a fearsome top order batsmen and to add more all three of them are in peak of their form. At the same time whenever their middle order is exposed they fail to impress and let their team down. Their neither strong nor weak bowling unit may let the team down on their bad day.

CSK(90%): Generally know as slow starters, but CSK have started this season strongly. Current form of most of the players is good and almost all of them have made notable contribution to boost their confidence. So you may expect them to grow stronger and stronger.

I love to come back on 19th May and LOL at me

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