The IPL T20 league has crossed the midway mark and here is a list of some completely unexpected outcomes.
1. Rajasthan Royals , a rank outsider , is at the top. Captained by the legendary leg spin bowler Shane Warne, the side is full of young talents. Asnodkar, Jadeja, Yusuf Pathan . Was the cheapest side to buy in the auctions.
2. Royal Challengers was the second highest expensive side and boasts of names like Dravid, Kallis, Boucher. Its now scraping the bottom of the table with negligible hope of moving up. The side has already got his second CEO in less than a month as the owner decided to dump the first one after a string of poor performances. High return entails high risk too.
3. Sachin Tendulkar is yet to play a single match due to his groin injury. Mumbai Indians possibly be one venture Ambanis, the owners, will find difficult to manipulate it to success.
4. Shaun Marsh of the Kings XI Punjab has scored 4 fifties on the trot and heads the lists of highest average.
5. B.Mcculum (see picture) of Kolkata Knight riders still heads the strike-rate list logging over 200. Of course he played only 2 matches but his opening match 155 n.o was a treat which destroyed Royal Challengers, set the tempo of slam-bang cricket & got IPL rolling.
Three places in the semi-finals appear to be taken by the Rajasthan, Punjab & Chennai teams. The fourth seems to be a close gamble among Delhi, Kolkata & Mumbai.
If Kolkata can beat Delhi today at Eden Gardens , they will get the momentum necessary to take the spot. In spite of Ganguly getting 2 match winning fifties on the trot, he will have to get down from his high horse and promote Saha & Shukla up the batting order. Playing Shoaib could be a liability as he is prone to gifting extras in the form of no balls and wides . Delhi will depend on Gambhir, Sehwag & Mahroof to do the damage with Manoj Tiwary as the surprise element. May the best team win today.
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