Against the Spin

Well folks, this is it.  The IPL has come down to these last three games: Chennai v. Punjab, Delhi v. Deccan, and Mumbai v. Kolkata.  With Mumbai & Bangalore in for sure, and Rajasthan & Punjab out for sure, 4 teams are contending for 2 spots.  There’s a good chance things could be decided today itself, with the Mumbai-Kolkata match becoming a formality.  Kolkata must win decisively to have even a chance, and after tomorrow’s games, they’ll know exactly what they need to do.  Things will revolve around the outcome of the game between CSK and the King XI Punjab, so let’s look at the scenarios.

If Chennai beat Punjab …

Chennai will go through, along with the winner of Delhi-Deccan. Kolkata have no chance

If Chennai lose to Punjab …

Chennai are definitely out, and the winner of Delhi-Deccan is definitely through. If Deccan lose to Delhi, and Kolkata beat Mumbai badly enough the next day, Kolkata could grab the fourth slot. However, if Deccan beat Delhi, then it’s likely that both Deccan & Delhi will go through, thanks to Delhi’s strong NRR.

What each team needs to do:

Delhi:  Either win, or hope Punjab beat Chennai.

Deccan: Either win, or hope that Punjab beat Chennai and Kolkata lose to Mumbai

Chennai: Win.  End of story.

Kolkata:  Hope and pray.  Both results need to go their way today (Chennai beat Punjab, and Delhi beat Deccan by a big margin), and then they have to pull off a big win of their own against the top dogs of IPL 3, the Mumbai Indians.

These IPL posts have been getting a lot of readers from Google, so I hope you folks are enjoying the statistical slant.  If you’d like to receive future posts by email (a couple posts per week), you can subscribe below.