Is this justified completely?

Well until last year, the third team that would go on to make it to the champions league T20 tournament would have been the team that finished third in the points table at the end of the league stages of the tournament. As a result of this, the third team would have made it to the champions league by pure luck and nothing else. Obviously, the two teams out of the three would have been the teams that make it to the finals of the tournament. The confusion was regarding the third team, with two other teams getting knocked out from the tournament after the semis.

In case a team that finished first in the points table and gets crashed out in the semi finals of the tournament, the team has to be considered as the third team when it would have been eligible to become the number one team to make it to the champions league. Of course, it has to be agreed that it is the number of teams that make it to the champions league and not the position at which they qualify. But, as far teams' status is concerned, they'll have to compromise with that. However, if the other side of the coin is considered, the idea is quite bad.

If one goes through yesterday's match between the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Deccan Chargers, unfortunately the Royal Challengers Bangalore who beat the Deccan Chargers no matter what the odds had to say. Prior to the semi finals, it was the Deccan Chargers who had finished in the second position of the points table while the Royal Challengers Bangalore finished fourth which happens to be the last in the second stage of the tournament. If the format is viewed from this angle, it is indeed a bad idea to go by. Though there is hardly any options, something should be thought about seriously.

One can imagine the way the Delhi Daredevils crashed out from the earlier edition of the Indian Premier League in South Africa after losing to the Deccan Chargers Adam Gilchrist in the semi finals. Delhi Daredevils had finished the round robin stage with 10 wins from 14 games that included 2 wins against the Deccan Chargers against whom they lost in the semi finals. However they deserved to make it to the champions league T20 which they did successfully. And earlier in 2008, it was the same Delhi Daredevils who finished third in the points table. And, if the IPL was set up the way it was this time and imagine Delhi crashed out, what an injustice it would have been!