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We are coming to the end of this year's Indian Premier League, the major T-20 cricket league in India which is finishing up its 17th season over the next week. To put the scale of this league in perspective, at the last renewal of broadcast and streaming rights, it commanded the highest per-game license fee of any sport in the world.
The final two regular-season matches are tomorrow morning US time (tomorrow afternoon and evening India time). Here is the current points table:
The top four teams go to the playoff and those teams are set. The two matches played tomorrow will determine 2nd and 3rd place.
Today's game was a much-anticipated match between then 4th-placed Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and 5th-placed Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). To make the playoff, RCB needed to win by 17 runs to both get the two points for the victory and increase their net run rate (NRR) which ranks teams that tie in points.
CSK won the toss and decided to bowl. After a brief rain delay in the third over, RCB went on to put up 218/5 in their 20 overs. CSK started their chase strong, but the wickets started falling, and with some great catches by RCB, CSK only made it to 191/7. RCB wins and makes it to the playoff for the 9th time.
The playoff format is interesting. First, the top two teams play in a qualifier match. Then, the 3rd and 4th teams play in an eliminator. The loser of the qualifier plays the winner of the eliminator, and the winner of that match plays the winner of the first qualifier match in the final. Thus the top two teams have two chances to make it to the final.
The playoff format looks like this in a graphic format, which is a little easier to follow than the prose version.
The 2nd place Rajasthan Royals and 3rd place Sunrisers Hyderabad play in separate matches tomorrow. Those matches will decide who gets two chances to make it to the final.
The playoffs are this coming Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday, with the final on Sunday, May 26.
Here's to a big week of cricket!
P.S., The T-20 World Cup starts June 1 with a match between the US and Canada in Dallas. This 55-match tournament will be played in June across the US and West Indies.
P.P.S., I have toyed in the past with writing a post trying to explain cricket and its various formats, but have not gotten around to it. Let me know if you would be interested and that would give me the impetus to get it done.
Discussion (16)
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Explain Cricket, please.
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OK, I will start working on it.
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Here is a view out of a box seat at a Mumbai Indians match at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. It does look a little cramped, but what was really nice about the boxed seat was the air conditioning. It was a warm night.
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One of India's two true religions.
When you've done cricket please also explain Bollywood.
Thank you in advance.
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