IPL 6 so far....

 

Out of 72 round robin matches IPL is 47 games old and we’ve been treated to some magnificent, and some awful, cricket. The table is beginning to show a clearer picture as to the sides that are looking likely to make it to the play offs. like every edition this years IPL has its surprises and some old routine stuff

SURPRISES

The biggest surprise so far has been the performance of defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders, they have managed to win only 04 out of their 11 games and need to win all the remaining 05 (3 away, 2 home) games in order to keep their play offs dream alive.

On the other side Sunrisers Hyderabad (formerly aka Deccan Chargers) have been the dark horses of the tournament.  They have the most potent bowling attack of all the teams and with their batsmen starting to find form they are on the on their way to playoffs.

CONSISTENT

Chennai Super Kings the most balanced team in the competition continue to set pace and with 18 points from 11 matches they are all but sure to make it to the playoffs. The only thing they might fear is self destruction.

Self destruction reminds me of Mumbai Indians. Tagged as care free spenders in auctions Mumbai Indians bought Glenn Maxwell for $ 1 million who haven't featured yet in their 10 games. Ricky Ponting was also bought in to settle the leadership issues, but the legend has struggled to score runs which prompting him to sit out because of the limitations of only four over seas players. With six games still left Mumbai need to win at least three games for confirming their spot in the play offs.

On the player front there are some familiar faces topping the run scoring and wicket taking charts. The biggest story of IPL 6, so far at least, has without doubt been one Chris Gayle. If you missed it, he hit a rather brisk 175* against Pune the other week. Old hand Michael Hussey is offering Gayle the most competition for ownership of the orange cap with Virat Kohli not far behind.

Among the bowlers, CSK Dwayne Bravo tops the list with Sunil Narine and Vinay Kumar giving him tough competition for the purple cap.

Qadir Yousuf