The IPL T20 knock outs are over. Thankfully Rajashthan won as they deserved to after the league ended. But to conclude a tournament where a team plays a league with 7 others (14 matches; home/away) with just a knock out semis and a final match is quite ridiculous. It has been that way in cricket since the World Cup began and it is that way in other World Cups such as soccer. (The Australian Tri Series ODIs had it better with a best of three finals).
However, the NBA (American Basketball) got it right- they have an extensive league phase of about 70 games followed by a knock out phase -the playoffs- with each round as a best of 5 or 7 games series. This format allows most teams to build and consolidate in the league phase and then in the knock outs- they get tested for the crunch moments but without making it easy for any team to just sneak in on account of a lucky day or bad day of their opponents.
Delhi And Punjab had two bad days, and the semis ended up as a huge disappointment. And in the case of Punjab, Shaun Marsh failed perhaps once in the tournament- such a one match knockout is harsh for sure.
And the final- it was not really convincing. Rajasthan decided to bowl and it was not anything exciting as such and Chennai also failed to push the score into a convincing zone. When Rajasthan batted, Asnodkar had his share of luck (which is the way he plays). But when three wickets fell around 40, the match was in balance.
In a good match, from there on one of the teams should do something decisive to get the match on their side. But instead blunders were the order of the day.
1. Yusuf Pathan survived some short bowling and then did well to come down the track to pull well.
2. Then Murali pinned Pathan and he lofted it beyond Raina at mid on- dropped!
3. Pathan then makes up by launching Murali twice out of the park, over long-on. Did Murali miss out the round the wicket angle he used in the World Cup 2007?
4. When 18 balls were left, Jadeja blundered by trying to pull Morkel by giving himslef room, instead of giving strike to Pathan.
5. Then Pathan almost ran himself out going for two, but did well to get in line with the ball and the stumps... only to get run out the next ball! The 17th over saw way too many blunders for a team which should have won easly.
6. The last over, Balaji did well for three balls before trying something wobbly from round the wicket- resulting in a wide ball and Parthiv Patel failed to prevent a bye as well.
Like they say in chess, often the person who wins is the one who made the second last blunder.
But then Warne deserved this win, since the last cracking shot of the tournament- driving Ntini through extra cover by giving himself room- was brilliant for sure to make the last over within reach.
From next time please ensure every knockout phase is best of three or five matches. These T20s should be seen like a frame in snooker. You need a minimum of 3-5 T20s to ensure that the winner earns it. This year the winner was worthy and Mr Modi could do no wrong either. But next time you never know, who will blunder second last...
Saumil
Mumbai
2nd June 2008
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