Semifinals Archives - Cric Talks

ICC World Twenty20: India reaches the Semifinals!

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Now, that is one heading I really wanted to write a post with… but Indian team’s performance in the Super8 let me down.

Nevertheless, the Indian team in Women’s T20 WC has given me this chance… 🙂

If you were busy following the men’s tournament and did not get a chance to check out what was happening in Women’s T20, here is an update.

Indian Women’s Team defeated Pakistan and Sri Lanka in their group matches to reach to the Semifinal stage. The other three teams that qualify for the Semi finals are England, New Zealand and Australia.

A Quick Re-cap

Indian Women’s Team was placed in Group B along with England, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Match 1

England Women vs India Women at Taunton – Jun 11, 2009
England Women won by 10 wickets (with 26 balls remaining)
India Women 112/8 (20/20 ov); England Women 113/0 (15.4/20 ov)

Match 2

India Women vs Pakistan Women at Taunton – Jun 13, 2009
India Women won by 5 wickets (with 14 balls remaining)
Pakistan Women 75 (19.5/20 ov); India Women 78/5 (17.4/20 ov)

Match 3

India Women v Sri Lanka Women at Taunton – Jun 15, 2009
India Women won by 5 wickets (with 7 balls remaining)
Sri Lanka Women 94/6 (18/18 ov); India Women 95/5 (16.5/18 ov)

Indian Women’s Team ended up second in their group after England (who won all the matches they played). India women now plays against New Zealand women, the unbeaten from group A, in the first Semi Final match on the 18^th.

Fixtures

Day	Time	Match	Venue	Forecast
Thu Jun 18	5:30 PM IST	1st Semi-Final India Women vs New Zealand Women	Trent Bridge	Cloudy
Fri Jun 19	5:30 PM IST	2nd Semi-Final England Women vs Australia Women	Oval	Mostly Sunny

The matches will be played on the same venue for Men’s Semifinal before their matches and will be telecasted live on TV.

IPL-2 brings out the true champion… does it?

What a turn around IPL-2 has proved from IPL-1… no wonder this game is a great equalizer, the two teams who were at the bottom of the table last year are now ending this season just the other way around.

No one would have imagined a final clash between the Deccan Chargers and the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the beginning of this season, but here we are witnessing the clash between the two.

Now that brings up the question… Did any of these teams really look like champions through out this league?

Though one can argue they are in the top gear right now, but then you will have to agree that there were days of inconsistent performance too. With Gilly blasting against Delhi Daredevils in the first Semifinal and Manish Pandey doing the magic for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the last two games, Deccan Chargers and Royal Challengers Bangalore managed to pull it through to the final stage.

I don’t know if this the right format for any league where each team is playing two matches against all other opponents for around one and a half months, the the deciders turn out to be the last three matches!!!

What I know from famous leagues in other sports, the teams play against the opponents at home’ and ‘away’ matches and the champion team is decided based on the total points it has scored through the season and not just by one final match.

Look at IPL-1…Rajasthan Royals had played through out the season like champions, defeating all other opponents quite handsomely and coming out as the deserving champions when they won the thrilling final match. This time it was Delhi Daredevils all through except for one match or rather just first five overs of the second innings of the first Semifinal.

If it’s all about the Semifinals and Finals, then why so many other matches through the tournament? Is it the right way of finding a true champion?

Well, you may argue that you can not be crowned as a champion if you can not win the big matches that count the most! But, I really want to hear it out from you… what do you have to say about it?

All set for the Semifinals… So, which team are you backing?

Well the league round is over and its time to enter the final round. The line up for the semifinals is ready and two of the teams that made it to this stage are those who were at the bottom of the tally, last year.

The so called test team (from the last year’s IPL) rises up to the need of the day under the leadership of a veteran who does not shy away from displaying his age on his jersey. The young Manish Pandey from the under 19 team hits a ton – the first by an Indian, in either season. Sehwag gets back to his form and ends the silence of his bat through this season. Well, with all this happening around, the intensity of the tournament is reaching its peak and rightly so, when we are just 3 days away from finding the champions of this season.

After all the ‘ifs and buts’ on the CricTalks in last few days, we finally have the line-up for the Semifinals.

Fri: May 22

20:00 IST

1st Semi-Final

Delhi Daredevils v Deccan Chargers

SuperSport Park

Sat: May 23

20:00 IST

2nd Semi-Final

Chennai Super Kings v Royal Challengers Bangalore

New Wanderers

For all the four teams, it has come down to winning just two more matches and claim the big money and pride. So close, yet so far… they will really have to battle it out in the field.

But who will get to lift the precious trophy this year?

Will it be Dhoni’s men or Kumble’s red brigade? Can Shewag’s men continue to be at the top till the end or will it be Gilly’s team that wins the contest?

So, which team are you backing?

Side Talks: Adding more to the excitement of the grand finale, lots of Bollywood celebrities are flying to South Africa. Mandira Bedi today caught hold of Katrina Kaif, who was cheering for Bangalore Royal Challengers, to know more about the closing ceremony. As per Katrina Kaif, she would be performing during the closing ceremony themed to showcase the Indian culture.

How Chennai Super Kings WILL reach the IPL-2 Semifinals?

The ‘Rajasthan Royals Vs Kolkata Knight Riders’ match would be over by the time Chennai Super Kings get to play against Kings XI Punjab.

If Rajasthan Royals win the match, they will end up with 15 points. Chennai Super Kings, in this situation will have to beat Kings XI Punjab to end the marathon with 17 points, sealing the 2nd place for themselves on the table.

The second situation would be… even if Chennai Super Kings lose the match to Kings XI Punjab, they will have to keep their net run rate better than Rajasthan Royals, as a result matching Rajasthan Royals at 15 points. Chennai Super Kings will have an advantage here as they would know in advance what they need to do to keep their net run rate better than Rajasthan Royals.

Now even in this situation, they will have to assume that the match between Deccan Chargers and Royal Challengers Bangalore is not canceled due to rain. In an unlikely event that “Deccan Chargers Vs. Royal Challengers Bangalore” match is declared as a “No result”, there will be a 4 way tie between DC, RCB, CSK and RR with each having 15 points.

Bottom-line: Beat Kings XI Punjab and celebrate!

Who gets to decide which teams will reach the IPL-2 Semifinals?

Only 2 days left in the league and 3 of the four Semifinal tickets are yet to be finalized.

With Delhi Daredevils through to the semifinal, the rest of the places in the semifinals are yet to be decided. Last week witnessed some very closely contested matches and it hasn’t been easy to guess who will be in the semifinals.

Fans are already going crazy and the cricket madness will be on its peak when the last 4 matches of the league will be played on May 20 and May 21.

While Kings XI Punjab, Chennai Super Kings, Rajasthan Royals, Deccan Chargers and Royal Challengers Bangalore will be fighting their skins out on the last 2 days to secure a place in the semifinals, Delhi Dare Devils, who are already on the top of the table, will continue to experiment. Kolkata Knight Riders who are already out of the contest will be only playing for some respect… perhaps even to ruin the sport-dreams of Rajasthan Royals for their ticket to the semifinals.

This is a really tricky situation… other than how these 5 teams play, there are 3 other factors that will decide the fate of the teams. First is the performance of the Kolkata Knight Riders team, the second being the Net Run Rate and third being the God of Rain.

A look at how the teams are currently placed:

Team	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	N/R	Pts	Net RR
Delhi Daredevils	13	9	4	0	0	18	+0.251
Chennai	13	7	5	0	1	15	+0.932
Deccan Chargers	13	7	6	0	0	14	+0.265
Bangalore	13	7	6	0	0	14	-0.253
Kings XI Punjab	13	7	6	0	0	14	-0.423
Rajasthan Royals	13	6	6	0	1	13	-0.360
Mumbai Indians	13	5	7	0	1	11	+0.401
Kolkata	13	2	10	0	1	5	-0.891

A quick look at the remaining matches in the league:

Date and time	The Fixture
Wed 20 16:00 IST	Kolkata Knight Riders vs. Rajasthan Royals
Wed 20 20:00 IST	Chennai Super Kings vs. Kings XI Punjab
Thu 21 16:00 IST	Delhi Daredevils vs. Mumbai Indians
Thu 21 20:00 IST	Royal Challengers Bangalore vs. Deccan Chargers

Keep reading CricTalks to know the fate of each of these 5 teams and their chances of making it to the Semifinals.