Indian Premier League - General Discussion

[Jalen]

My post-mortem after the mad weekend that ensued (I am not talking about CSK in this post - just an FYI for all who are still interested to read further on this post of mine)

Mumbai Indians: They had one hell of what I would call an "unlucky tournament". I couldn't see too many wrongs in them and for me, it was just a case of them falling on the wrong side at the end of the day and they had a collection of those moments which made their playoff race incredibly tight. Yet, they continued their tradition of making a mad dash after the halfway stage to almost make it the playoffs and when the mad weekend started, they were in the best spot to make it to the playoffs due to their superior NRR, which tells you a lot about how tough a tournament they had. They might need to make a few minor tweaks here and there, but I think they have a great core to perform really well in the next 2 seasons. Wont be surprised if I see them lift the trophy again next year

Kings XI Punjab: Their middle order just let them down massively. Depended on KL Rahul too much. They either need to get rid of Gayle and have Finch at the top or get rid of Finch (while keeping Gayle in) and find some good reliable middle order players, preferably Indian. I would actually have them get rid of Gayle which is far inferior to Finch on the field and have Finch open with Rahul and have the likes of Agarwal, Nair in the Top 4. And I hope we have seen the last of Yuvraj Singh in IPL. Also as much as I know that Andrew Tye is likely to get the purple cap, I dont rate him very highly as a bowler. Somehow he seems to be easy pickings when you want to score runs. Yesterday against CSK when Mohit and Rajpoot built tremendous pressure at the beginning, Tye was brought in and released a big chunk of pressure against Raina and Faf. They need a better overseas fast bowler either to replace Tye or balance his weakness out. Ashwin and Mujeeb are fine. Ashwin needs to grow into his captaincy role and maybe he will have a better season next time. The way KXIP started this season, Ashwin can be backed.

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Kohli's inconsistency cost them dearly. As Kohli himself said, too much was put on ABD's shoulders and he did almost carry them on his shoulders as he was flying supermanly towards the playoffs. I can't see too much issues with RCB's bowling as they have a nice allround attack in Umesh, Southee and Chahal. Maybe they need a second spinner (a good one; not Negi and the likes) to complement Chahal. They need to invest in Siraj as he was already showing signs of repaying the trust. For a flashy batting side, its their batting that let them down this season. They wasted McCullum and used him shabbily. Same with De Kock. Kohli should consistently open with Parthiv and give himself the best chance of playing through the innings. ABD at No. 4 or 5. They need to find proper batsmen to fill up the rest of the spots.

Delhi Daredevils: Delhi just showed in the last two games, what could have been (this season) and what can be (next season). Another side that I back to do drastically better next season. They are close to finding their formula. I heard from the commentators during their last two games that maybe Shreyas Iyer is not inspiring enough respect within the DD camp as captain, but if that's true, I hope that the victories in those last two games should hopefully bring some respect on him and when he comes back as captain for an entire season next year, he should be in a better place to command the respect. They need to relieve Maxwell who has been a disaster and maybe look at someone like Amla or Ronchi next year. Shaw, Iyer, Pant and Shankar will handle most of the batting. Maybe they can even open the batting with Shaw and Shankar and then load their middle order with some overseas batsman. Shankar is that kind of player who takes a bit of time to get going but he can get into S/R of 200 and more as he grows into the innings.

----
Overall: I think the teams that missed out on the playoff spot this year should not be worrying too much from a long term perspective. From where I see them right now, I won't be surprised if 3 of the above teams make it to the playoffs next year. In fact, I am predicting MI, DD and RCB in the playoffs next season (2019) if they continue in the right direction from where they leave off this year.

I hope we have seen the last of yuvi on the cricket field as a whole.
Also tye is probably one of the best death bowlers in the world, they aren't going to get rid of him

 

[Velocity]

My post-mortem after the mad weekend that ensued (I am not talking about CSK in this post - just an FYI for all who are still interested to read further on this post of mine)

Mumbai Indians: They had one hell of what I would call an "unlucky tournament". I couldn't see too many wrongs in them and for me, it was just a case of them falling on the wrong side at the end of the day and they had a collection of those moments which made their playoff race incredibly tight. Yet, they continued their tradition of making a mad dash after the halfway stage to almost make it the playoffs and when the mad weekend started, they were in the best spot to make it to the playoffs due to their superior NRR, which tells you a lot about how tough a tournament they had. They might need to make a few minor tweaks here and there, but I think they have a great core to perform really well in the next 2 seasons. Wont be surprised if I see them lift the trophy again next year

Kings XI Punjab: Their middle order just let them down massively. Depended on KL Rahul too much. They either need to get rid of Gayle and have Finch at the top or get rid of Finch (while keeping Gayle in) and find some good reliable middle order players, preferably Indian. I would actually have them get rid of Gayle which is far inferior to Finch on the field and have Finch open with Rahul and have the likes of Agarwal, Nair in the Top 4. And I hope we have seen the last of Yuvraj Singh in IPL. Also as much as I know that Andrew Tye is likely to get the purple cap, I dont rate him very highly as a bowler. Somehow he seems to be easy pickings when you want to score runs. Yesterday against CSK when Mohit and Rajpoot built tremendous pressure at the beginning, Tye was brought in and released a big chunk of pressure against Raina and Faf. They need a better overseas fast bowler either to replace Tye or balance his weakness out. Ashwin and Mujeeb are fine. Ashwin needs to grow into his captaincy role and maybe he will have a better season next time. The way KXIP started this season, Ashwin can be backed.

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Kohli's inconsistency cost them dearly. As Kohli himself said, too much was put on ABD's shoulders and he did almost carry them on his shoulders as he was flying supermanly towards the playoffs. I can't see too much issues with RCB's bowling as they have a nice allround attack in Umesh, Southee and Chahal. Maybe they need a second spinner (a good one; not Negi and the likes) to complement Chahal. They need to invest in Siraj as he was already showing signs of repaying the trust. For a flashy batting side, its their batting that let them down this season. They wasted McCullum and used him shabbily. Same with De Kock. Kohli should consistently open with Parthiv and give himself the best chance of playing through the innings. ABD at No. 4 or 5. They need to find proper batsmen to fill up the rest of the spots.

Delhi Daredevils: Delhi just showed in the last two games, what could have been (this season) and what can be (next season). Another side that I back to do drastically better next season. They are close to finding their formula. I heard from the commentators during their last two games that maybe Shreyas Iyer is not inspiring enough respect within the DD camp as captain, but if that's true, I hope that the victories in those last two games should hopefully bring some respect on him and when he comes back as captain for an entire season next year, he should be in a better place to command the respect. They need to relieve Maxwell who has been a disaster and maybe look at someone like Amla or Ronchi next year. Shaw, Iyer, Pant and Shankar will handle most of the batting. Maybe they can even open the batting with Shaw and Shankar and then load their middle order with some overseas batsman. Shankar is that kind of player who takes a bit of time to get going but he can get into S/R of 200 and more as he grows into the innings.

----
Overall: I think the teams that missed out on the playoff spot this year should not be worrying too much from a long term perspective. From where I see them right now, I won't be surprised if 3 of the above teams make it to the playoffs next year. In fact, I am predicting MI, DD and RCB in the playoffs next season (2019) if they continue in the right direction from where they leave off this year.

I found your analysis on Tye very unfair. He's bowled very well and carried the KXIP attack before that CSK game. He's taken wickets, at a good economy rate as well. Everyone is going to have a bad day, naturally. KXIP need another good fast bowler to partner up with Rajpoot and Tye. Mohit Sharma has been very disappointing and unlike himself ever since he played for CSK. Aaron Finch was very wasted down the order. When Gayle wasn't firing, he could've came in his place. KXIP didn't have a proper #3 for that matter. It was either Agarwal or Finch or someone else, nothing worked there. I agree one fast good fast bowler and a PROPER #3 is needed for Punjab.

I think Delhi missed an X-factor player throughout the tournament. Someone special who can take the game away from teams. Maxwell was a massive disappointment. Rabada returning will be good for them, but again they need someone to take Maxi's spot in the XI. Someone like a Tom Latham, who can go big in the middle overs. Roy and Munro look good enough for the opening spot. Lamichhane didn't seem bad, he should get more chances for sure. Just that one X-factor player and Delhi are good.

 

[Ashutosh.]

Teams finishing last in each IPL season:

2008 - DC (4 points)
2009 - KKR (7)
2010 - KXIP (8)
2011 - DD (9)
2012 - PWI (8)
2013 - DD (6)
2014 - DD (4)
2015 - KXIP (6)
2016 - KXIP (8)
2017 - RCB (7)
2018 - DD (10)

DD's 10 points this season are the most by a team finishing last!

 

[ParkedTheBus]

KXIP should bin Gayle as soon as possible, what a disappointment he has been after his first couple of innings. Worst part is that we all knew this was inevitable. They need a reliable Indian fast bowler to complement Tye, Mujeeb, Ashwin and Axar. Maybe another foreign spinner will help as well. Their batting order of Rahul, Finch, Nair, Agarwal, Miller and a new foreign batsman isn't all that bad when it's complemented by a bowling attack of Ashwin, Axar, Mujeeb, Tye and an Indian fast bowler.

MI's team combination is almost-ideal except for Pollard. They've been extremely unlucky and can expect to make the playoffs next season like @SaiSrini said. They can easily win the tournament with a team of Lewis, Yadav, Rohit, Ishan Kishan, a foreign batsman/all rounder, Hardik, Krunal, Cutting/a new foreign spinning all-rounder, Markande, Bumrah, McCleanaghan

RCB are somewhat similar to MI. They've been a bit unlucky in a couple of game/s and with Kohli and ABD in the side, they go into every game as (joint-)favourites. Their bowling has improve so much compared to the past, what they need is a new Indian spinner and maybe a foreign fast bowler/spinner. They need one more reliable Indian batsman as well. Team should be Kohli, QDK, Parthiv, ABD, Mandeep, a new Indian finisher, de Grandhomme/Woakes, a new foreign bowler, Umesh, Siraj, Chahal.

DD probably won't challenge next year knowing their auction strategy but the year after that they could potentially be favourites. In fact if they can get new Indian bowlers they'll be favourites for next season even. Roy, Munro, Shaw, Pant, Iyer, Shankar, Morris, Rabada, Mishra, Avesh and new Indian bowler will be such a good team. At the very least that's top 4 material and that batting lineup will strike fear into opposition lineups.

 

[Gopal123]

Throwing wickets away after a couple of batsmen had stood up and/or throwing runs away after a couple of bowlers had stood up... That's been the story of Mumbai Indians' season. They just constantly failed to sustain momentum through a match, through every match they've lost. All the 6 games that MI lost in final overs, they had it on their hands for 75% of the time but they slipped it during remaining 25% of the time. This season was pretty good though, for MI, despite missing out Pat and Behrendoff, two specialist T20 bowlers. Just they couldn't be good with execution at death, be it with bat or ball. And when they started to repair their mistakes, perhaps it was late. In T20s and importantly in a competition like IPL, death overs is exactly the phase where a team either establish those two points or loses them. Well Mumbai could learn a lesson from this and hope they'll come back stronger next year. After all I shouldn't be wrong to say that MI were the only ones to play like a "squad", other teams have just been relying on 3-4 players.

To sum up, I can compare MI to that political party who had highest vote share in elections but didn't have the highest number of seats. That's where it all went wrong.

Didnt you watched ipl 2017. he was poor in that tournament too. he already got chance this year and failed it.

 

[Ohm]

Didnt you watched ipl 2017. he was poor in that tournament too. he already got chance this year and failed it.

Who?

 

[abhi_jacko]

Ridiculous spell from jaddu

1-13 in 4

 

[Gopal123]

Who?

Pollard

 

[Ohm]

Should be an easy chase for CSK given their batting lineup. SRH will have to bag 4-5 wickets before 12 overs, otherwise dew's just gonna haunt them later.[DOUBLEPOST=1527003787][/DOUBLEPOST]

Didnt you watched ipl 2017. he was poor in that tournament too. he already got chance this year and failed it.

Pollard

385 runs, MI's second highest run scorer in tournament. Not bad for someone who usually bats at 5th or 6th position.

 

[Ohm]

The fk I'm not watching this game live, I got to get in front of the TV!

 

[Neo 7]

385 runs, MI's second highest run scorer in tournament. Not bad for someone who usually bats at 5th or 6th position.

He has made 133 runs in 8 innings this year .

 

[Gaurav_7]

OMG CSK are losing it here, lol. Why change the opening in such a crucial game!

 

[SaiSrini]

OMG CSK are losing it here, lol. Why change the opening in such a crucial game!

Doesn't matter. When there's an iota of swing, both Rayudu and Rahul are very vulnerable and they've shown it in these two games. Billings was a sitting duck anyway in the middle. Rayudu is a better option than him. Also Faf is not a good option in the middle when you want quicker runs. If you play Faf, you open with him.

 

[Gaurav_7]

Wow, what class batting by Faf! Absolutely mind blowing!

 

[SaiSrini]

UN----BELIEVE-----ABLE!!! Where does this come from??? Wankhede 2nd consecutive time this season, CSK JAILBREAKS!!!!