By Joe Man
After what must be the longest group stage of a tournament in history the IPL has reaching business time! Crazy to think that this year’s tournament started back on April 10 before being suspended in early may due to the resurgence of Covid. A packed schedule was then decided to restart in September with the remaining 31 matches to be concluded in 21 days! Four teams are now gone with Rajasthan Royals, Mumbai Indians, Sunrises Hyderabad and Punjab Kings all on their way home. There is no doubt that this year’s IPL has been severely impacted by the troubles cricket finds itself in. All of the teams lost star players who chose not to return after the enforced break due to Quarantine demands. With the World Cup only a couple of weeks away, you can see why organisers wanted to get these games played in a hurry!
Perhaps the biggest shock is not seeing Rohit Sharma’s Mumbai Indians in the final four. Easily the most successful team since the tournaments inception, Mumbai have five titles to their name and a cracking line up! It was all looking positive until the incredible result in the RCB v Delhi Capitols game. Delhi were strong favorite’s going in as the top team and RCB ended up needing a six off the last ball. Step up KS Bharat and six it was giving the Royal Charges the game and condemning the Mumbai Indians to their fate. It’s a shame to see the likes of K L Rahul, Rohit Sharma and Sanju Samson leave as they had fantastic tournaments but for teams that didn’t quite make it.
Two fascinating encounters await with Delhi facing the Chennai Super Kings and Royal Chargers Bangalore facing the Kolkata Knight Riders. Delhi’s team has been very impressive with Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw at the top of the order making lots of runs. The side has talent everywhere in their line up and would be my favorite’s to go on and win the tournament. The winner between Delhi and Chennai will go straight to the final. It should be quite a game as the two best teams of this year go head to head in battle. The loser will face the winner of game two between Bangalore and Kolkata. It feels Bangalore have been slightly underperforming and could be very dangerous if they now hit top gear. Lead for the last time by Virat Kohli he will be determined to go on to the final. It’s a hard road for these two with a guaranteed extra game but anything can happen in T20 cricket.
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