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.

IPL Semifinals Redux

Discussion started by Indian Cricket Fever (IP Logged), 19/05/2008 17:37

Indian Cricket Fever
19/05/2008 17:37

IPL Semifinals Redux

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amit
16/05/2008 03:54

kolkata have already played delhi at home once, so thats 1 home game less for kolkata

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kappax
16/05/2008 23:34

Winning 7 games would also be good enough for No:3 & 4 to make the semis if the top guys(No:1 & 2) win all their games + if + the bottom guys win a few...

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...

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ananthd
17/05/2008 00:58

I have updated in Birbal. Feel free to convert it. No attribution necesary.

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kappax
17/05/2008 04:43

MSD is not officially an Icon player. though practically he is unlike the other official Icon players

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...

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kappax
19/05/2008 10:31

winning 8 games each may not be enough for teams if Delhi wins all its next 3...

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Birbal
19/05/2008 17:56

Kolkata not making the Semis is somewhat understandable...

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...

_____

ICL Ko Support Karo Yaro...

BCCI Ko Joote Chappal Maro....

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Birbal
19/05/2008 18:34

Delhi now blow HOT again...

But to be fair it was against Bangalore the WORST team in the league...

_____

ICL Ko Support Karo Yaro...

BCCI Ko Joote Chappal Maro....

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flamy
19/05/2008 18:35

Pappu Duh-Duh inspires Kolkata to a holiday?

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Birbal
19/05/2008 18:39

Ganguly's team BEAT Delhi... if you care to remember...

_____

ICL Ko Support Karo Yaro...

BCCI Ko Joote Chappal Maro....

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flamy
19/05/2008 21:42

Even BRC beat Bombay, but who shall be the final 4?

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Birbal
19/05/2008 22:33

BRC is NOT...it does not even have a STATISTICAL CHANCE anymore...

_____

ICL Ko Support Karo Yaro...

BCCI Ko Joote Chappal Maro....

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flamy
19/05/2008 22:36

Could you expect anything less from Pappu Dravid?

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Birbal
28/05/2008 20:21

Ananth gets it spot on this time... Delhi makes it but Kolkata and Mumbai don't...

_____

ICL Ko Support Karo Yaro...

BCCI Ko Joote Chappal Maro....

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Spirit of Cricket
28/05/2008 23:02

Wow.. nice prediction work here by Ananth!

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.

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round rock
29/05/2008 11:00

chennai looks distinctly weeker among the top 4. most likely punjab and rajasthan will meet in finals

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Birbal
29/05/2008 18:08

Delhi are the wild cards then?

They have a formidable opening combo in Gambo and Veeru and Terrific bowling in McGrath, Maharoof, Asif, Yo Mahesh, Mishra...

_____

ICL Ko Support Karo Yaro...

BCCI Ko Joote Chappal Maro....

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kappax
30/05/2008 15:13

Well the same weak chennai team defeated Kings XI a week or so back...

so its is 50-50...

its like Chennai like Kings XI bowling...

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Birbal
30/05/2008 23:13

Wild Card got discarded...

_____

ICL Ko Support Karo Yaro...

BCCI Ko Joote Chappal Maro....

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