Half way through the tournament and we are witnessing the tussle fight for the top 4 places in the points table. In the third week of the tournament, we have seen some turnarounds primarily because of the Australian players departure aftermath as predicted last week. But there seems to be little hope for the Royal Challengers and Deccan Chargers, as it would be do-or-die situation for all the subsequent matches. Team Standings: Team Jaipur, true its name as city of victory, is on the top of the table with 12 points. Chennai Superkings who had a mixed week with 2 wins and 2 losses are at No.2 with same number of points while Mohali who were in for the 6th straight win were halted by Superkings yesterday to remain at No.3. Delhi has slipped from 1st place, last week to 4th place, this week. Kolkata remains at 5th place. Mumbai(No.6 now) has swapped position with Bangalore(No.8 now) from last week. 7th position is unchanged for Hyderabad.
Turnarounds: Last week went pretty good for the most expensive team in IPL, Mumbai Indians. They won the matches against Delhi and Jaipur. Against Delhi it was Captain’s game with Shaun Pollock scoring 33 runs and dismissing Shoaib Malik and Shikhar Dhawan. Seems like this time Mumbai captaincy is in safe hands. Ashish Nehra also came handy with 3 dismissals. It was more of team effort to bowl out Delhi for 133 after being restricted to a gettable 162. And against Jaipur, Mumbai’s bowling was on full display - as most fancied team in IPL, Jaipur was bowled out for a paltry 103. Chennai had its own worries when fellow Australians left. It was evident when they were bowled out for 109 against Jaipur courtesy Pakistani paceman Sohail Tanvir and were beaten by Hyderabad after scoring 144. Tanvir now holds best bowling figures in IPL - 6 for 14. But it was not a entirely disappointing week for Chennai, as they won the match against Delhi off the last ball chasing 187. Another spectacular finish to the IPL archives. Well, they also won the crucial match against Mohali yesterday scoring impressive 181/4 with contributions from Badrinath and Dhoni and Balaji’s hatrick. They are now clearly coming out of the shadows of Hayden and Hussey. On the other hand, for their neighbours, Bangalore, the tale of agony continues with losses against Kolkata and Mohali. Now, Bangalore has lost both matches against Kolkata. Hyderabad is also following Bangalore, latest loss being to Jaipur with opponents beating them with 4 overs to spare.
"Old wounds were reopened with Ricky Ponting saying
‘Harbhajan has been unmasked’. It seems like Ponting
has timed his statement well, as he is not playing in IPL now"
Controversies: Though last week did not create any new controversies, old one involving Bhajji continues haunt the former Mumbai skipper. Harbhajan is now under the scrutiny of BCCI, which as per reports is likely to penalize the bowler with 10 match ban for which Singh has appealed for ‘one final chance’. Old wounds were reopened with Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting saying ‘Harbhajan has been unmasked’. It seems like Ponting has timed his statement well, as he is not playing in IPL now.
Next Week: 8 matches are scheduled next week, which would be crucial for the bottom 2 teams, Hyderabad and Bangalore. Bangalore have to outplay Mohali and Jaipur in their own den for any chance of making into final 4. Similarly Hyderabad needs to win their sole match next week against Delhi in Delhi. That apart, Mumbai Indians who won the last 3 matches will be hoping to repeat the same against Chennai and Kolkata. Then we have some key clashes like Delhi v/s Jaipur, Delhi v/s Kolkata, Delhi v/s Mohali. Delhi plays half of the total matches to be played next week. More or less next week will decide the who are out of this year’s edition of IPL.
