Analysis : IPL Semi Finals Spots Nearly Fixed

With today's match, (May 20th, 44th match - Kolkata Knight Riders v Rajasthan Royals) where Rajasthan Royal's thrashed the Kolkata Knight Riders by 6 wickets, the Semi Final spots in the DLF IPL seems to be nearly fixed. At least we are in a position to know which teams are not going to make it. Below chart shows the current standings and it follows my own analysis:

Jaipur: They certainly have emerged as the Royals. Topping the chart with 9 out of 11 wins so far, they have sealed the semi final spot without any doubt now. Even if they lose their remaining three games (worst case scenario), they are going to comfortably make it to semis.

Mohali: They are number 2 right now and the good news for them is they still have 4 matches to go namely against Mumbai Indians, Deccan Chargers, Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals. They would certainly like to win against the Deccan Chargers as it might be their easiest game of all. They would also like to win against the KKR, since that would eliminate all possibilities of KKR advancing into semis. Only with these two wins, they should command the number 2 or 3 position.

Chennai Supper Kings: They have three games left against Bangalore, Rajasthan and Hyderabad. They need to win at least one of them. Given the performance of Bangalore and Hyderabad in the tournament so far, I believe it is going to be easy for them. 2 wins would make them comfortable at number 2 or 3.

Mumbai Indians: This team has been the biggest surprise so far given the way they started in the tournament. It seems ouster of Harbhajan Singh has motivated them to the same extent as the return of Sachin Tendulkar who is yet to play a valuable knock in this shorter version. With 4 games remaining for them, namely against Punjab, Delhi, Rajasthan and Bangalore, they have time in their stride. Having said that, they at least need to win 2 of their remaining four games to be comfortable. They are now tied with Delhi, so they must beat Delhi as well.

Delhi Daredevils: It is a pity that after such a dream start the daredevils are languishing behind the top 4 teams. It is another pity that daredevils are the team who posses the best opening partners in the tournament and one of the openers (Gambhir) is also the most run accumulator in the tournament so far. Their opening bowler Mcgrath has been consistent and miser. In spite of all these facts, they are the joker right now. With two more games remaining to their name, they have the chance to make some upset in the last few matches before IPL heads for knockouts. All in all, they must win both the games against Mumbai Indians as well as KKR. They are going to see the toughest games, because both KKR and Mumbai Indians would try to beat them and seal their own chances for semis. Watch out for these two games.

Kolkata Knight Riders, Deccan Chargers, Bangalore Royal Challengers: In my opinion these teams are out of the first edition of DLF IPL.

Obviously teams qualifying for Semis would not like to be at number 4 and face number 1 (Rajasthan in most probability) in the semi's itself. So every team would compete hard to leave the number 4 spot and give themselves a much better chance to advance into the finals.

Tie Ups: There are high chances that 2-3 teams would stand at the same number of points after this league round. This induces masala in IPL in the remaining games when the teams would not only want to win the games but win them comprehensively. Watch out for big hits and hence big failures.

PS:- This analysis is completely based on my opinion and it might not match everyone's. Not that I care, but I do apologize to the loyal fans of KKR, Deccan Chargers and Bangalore to mention that they are out of the IPL. (I assume, IPL has been able to infuse some loyalty among the local fans)