IPL's Fantastic Four.

IPL started with 8 teams locking horns. After the league games played in a round-robin half the teams would go back home. Then we have the traditional knock out at a Semi-Final from where 2 teams progress to the finals for a showdown or a face-off. I was always interested in the first four that will survive the 6 weeks of grueling tournament.

After the auctions, I had written off two teams. The Rajasthan Royals and the Bangalore Royal Challengers. That was now almost over a month ago. The points table and the team performances constantly changed the four favorite to make it the Knock outs. After nearly 10 games each one team has booked a place in the Semis and the other has no chances of making it.
The paradigm shift and how frequently the universal constant of change happened while deciding the 4 has been very intriguing for me.

So when the tournament started my four were Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata and Hyderabad. I did not give a chance to Bangalore and Jaipur. Thought Mohali and Mumbai could put up a fight.

After a few matches Rajasthan had emerged the dark horse; Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad were clearly in disarray. Delhi and Kolkata looked formidable. Chennai and Mohali looked comfortable. So it was Hyderabad that took the "Much hyped but pathetic" title first. Few more games and Rajasthan was clearly growing from strength to strength. Chennai was at the top. Delhi and Mohali were getting stronger. Kolkata were suddenly struggling and joined Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore. That’s when the cream of the Foreign players left, and with them the fortunes of Chennai.

At the half way mark Bangalore and Hyderabad were looking hopeless, Jaipur were sitting on top. Chennai was looking shaky; Mohali and Delhi were still at the top four. Mumbai came back strongly and Kolkata had new blood. It looked like the 4th semi-final berth would be a closely contested one between the 3 largest metros of India.

Some more matches and now, definitely Bangalore and Hyderabad are out. No miracles can work in their favor. Mohali is a more balanced and consistent side and they are good to go. Rajasthan looks comfortable on the top. In my opinion they are the first team that has qualified.
S. Rajesh actually thinks otherwise.

http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/ipl/content/story/351448.html

So the question that remains now is among the Metros which 2 are going to join Jaipur and Mohali at the top and which 2 will more likely sit out with the Bangalore and Hyderabad boys.



Chennai has had a great batting and now their bowling is looking great. The inconsistent performance weighs heavily against them. Their bench strength is also weak and Mahi has limited options. If there is not too much of a pressure on Dhoni they look a great team and can win with a team effort.

Kolkata is one team that has looked spirited; their fortunes are getting reversed too often. They have a few high profile signups and Dada needs to get his act going. The options for both bowling and batting are plenty. King Khan is no Mallya and will be okay with either the Mumbai crowd booing him or his team loosing.

Delhi is too dependent on its openers Shewag, Gambir and the No 3 Dhawan. The middle order is very shaky while the bowling department has started having a few niggles. McGrath is too good for any team. Delhi has two important home (against Kolkata and Mumbai) games and an easy away game against Bangalore.

Mumbai has comeback very well under the captaincy of Pollock and are very lucky under Tendulkar. Jayasurya single handedly influenced two matches. Andre Nel is a great replacement for Bravo. Mumbai suddenly looks very balanced after they have found the winning habit. Of course any team that can afford to play Pollock at 7 should be great. Three back to back matches in the last week can test the bench just before the knockouts.

So coming back to the question, let’s understand how questions work before we attempt to answer it. There are two places where you can ask a question. Your heart and the head! Now, after having said that, let’s go ahead and ask the question. Which Two Metros will progress?

My head says Delhi and Mumbai.
But my heart says Kolkata and Chennai.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed and touching some wood too!