Bangalore one step away from getting into semi-finals

Yesterday was a day of low-scoring matches in IPL. The first match between Team Jaipur and Team Kolkata was like a one-day from 20 years back where bowler ruled the roost and batsmen were struggling to score a single run. Ultimately, KKR did deliver the knock-out blow to Rajsthan Royals, defending champion, and thus ended their dream of getting into the semis once again. The second match was a nightmare for Team Punjab where they squandered one of the easier opportunities to get into the semis being unable to defend a modest total posted by Team Chennai, thus putting their team on the rajor's edge.

This has made Bangalore's chances of getting into the semis much brighter. If they win today's match against the Chargers they will automatically be placed into the semis. But if they lose, then the average net run rate theory will come into play and they will have to vie with Team Punjab for the fourth spot in the semis. Though things look better for Bangalore now, but they have to just keep this NRR thing in mind while playing for today's match so that even if they lose to the Chargers, they should be well ahead on the NRR to keep Punjab out of fray.

Best of luck to Team Bangalore...

© 2009 Ranjan Kumar