The top 4 for the Indian Premier League has been set, with those teams qualifying for the play offs for a shot at the big golden trophy in the best cricket league in the world.
Although all teams have games in hand, the final stands aren’t confirmed yet, so we don’t know who will be facing each other in New Chandigarh and Ahmedabad. But how does the play off system work?
As you know, the top four teams go through to the play off stages. The top 2 will face each other in qualifier one, and third and fourth will go against each other in qualifier 2. The winner of qualifier one will get a bye straight to the final, with the loser getting a second chance in an eliminator game. The winner of qualifier two will go to the eliminator game against the loser of qualifier one. The winner of that game will go through to the final at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
Gujurat Titans, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Punjab Kings and Mumbai Indians will be going to the play offs. So the question now is, who could win?
Gujurat Titans
The Gujurat Titans have been very good throughout the tournament, with the opening partnership of Sai Sudharsan and Shubhman Gill at the top of their games, followed by Jos Buttler at number 3. But that’s how the Titans have gotten most of their runs, via their top three. If all three get out, their middle order hasn’t been given enough or aren’t capable enough to generate more runs. However, in the game against Lucknow Super Giants, Shahrukh Khan and Sherfane Rutherford put on a great partnership just before the play offs started. For other teams, the key to a win against this Gujurat side, is early wickets against the top three batsmen.
Mumbai Indians
The Mumbai Indians looked like they weren’t going to qualify, with them being in the bottom 4 after their first 4 games. But, they really changed it around. Ryan Rickelton got runs with Rohit Sharma and Will Jacks contributing, with Suryakumar Yadav being the franchise’s most impactful player, in the top 5 for the orange cap for most runs in this seasons IPL. Hardik Pandya hasn’t been at his very best with ball or bat, and other players such as Trent Boult being very powerful with the ball in hand, alongside Jasprit Bumrah and Mitchell Santner. You could say that getting the top four out can lead to less runs for Mumbai, but they do have other players who can hit the ball, including Naman Dhir.
Punjab Kings:
For the first time in 11 years, Punjab Kings have qualified for the play offs. The last time the Punjab franchise qualified was in 2014, when the team lost to Kolkata Knight Riders in the final. The new head coach Ricky Ponting has definitely become a factor as to the side’s top tier batting, with young Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh at the top, scoring the second most runs as a opening pair behind Gujurat Titans. Shreyas Iyer was bought as the new captain, playing at number three, with a lot of batting depth in the middle order, which has been a problem for Punjab since 2015. Josh Inglis at number 4, with Mitchell Owen coming in, with Nehal Wadhera, Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis and Marco Jansen in the middle. In the game against Rajasthan, Priyansh and Prabh got out quite early, but runs from Shreyas, 70 runs from Nehal Wadhera, and 50 for Shashank Singh shows that Punjab’s batting depth is incredible. However, their bowling has been a weakness, with top players such as Arshdeep Singh getting wickets, but conceding a lot of unnecessary runs. So for the opposition, Punjab’s bowling and fielding is a weakness that they can target.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru:
The Royal Challengers Bengaluru have been nothing sort but almost perfect this year. The top order before the suspension between Phil Salt and Virat Kohli were picking up runs like it is no man’s business. Jacob Bethell came in as a replacement pick, and scored a lot of runs with King Kohli himself, with a middle order of Krunal Pandya, Tim David and Romario Shepherd. And if that’s not good enough, they have been consistent with their bowling or Pandya, Yash Dayal and Josh Hazlewood. If there’s a team that are most likely to win the tournament with strengths in the bowling and fielding, it’s the Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Despite new captain Rajat Patidar being the new captain for the franchise, he does have less experience in the role, which could be a factor to key decisions during the stages. But, there hasn’t been many problems for him and the franchise so far.
The play offs are set to take place on the 29th May to the 1st of June, with Qualifier 1 and 2 taking place at Mullanpur in New Chandigarh, with the Eliminator and the final to take place at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
