New Delhi:
The Indian Premier League 2016 in his last leg and after 56 enthralling and exciting matches, the cash-rich league has now only four team to play for the glory. It’s been a high octane league so far this season as no one has emerged as the front runner for the ultimate destination.
In the league stages, all the eight teams gave their best shots to reach the playoffs. The carnival which commenced from April first with lots of flare is four matches away. All the four qualified teams-Gujarat Lions, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders have played some outstanding cricket in past one and half months.
The world has seen some astonishing batting from likes of Virat Kohli, David Warner, great bowling from Mitch McClenaghan, YS Chahal, Mustafizur Rahman. All-rounders like Shane Watson, Krunal Pandya, Andree Russell and many more have shown why they are best in the world to be a part of the league.
All the four teams in playoffs, especially Bangalore who rose to the occasion from 7th to 2nd place in the last week was remarkable. Royals won their last 4 matches with huge run rate to claim the second spot in the table. Skipper Kohli was the main architect behind their surge.
Sunrisers also lost first two matches badly but bounced back to win 5 matches on the trot. Davy Warner and Shikhar Dhawan helped Sunrisers to win most of the matches. With a great pace attack including Nehra, B Kumar and Mustafizur Rahman, they were unplayable. Middle order batsman Yuvraj and Deepak Hooda will provide the require boost.
Gujarat Lions, the debutant team under Suresh Raina toped the table with 9 wins. They are brilliant McCullum, Finch on top and reliable Raina, Bravo, Smith in middle order. Lions are unpredictable and can lose their way at any time.
Kolkata Knight Riders, had a mixed tournament so far. They were top of the table in the initial stages but lost some crucial matches. They crawled back to secure a place in playoffs.
