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!

Odds favor the Deccan Chargers to win IPL3

A couple of days back, cricket avatar was found warning the Mumbai Indians' captain - Sachin Tendulkar for wearing the orange cap considering the fate of the teams that had a player wearing the orange cap namely the Kings XI Punjab in 2008 and the Chennai Super Kings in 2009. Added to that similarity, both the teams that lost the semis after having a player wearing the orange cap had the name Kings in their team name and were captained by Singhs. Anyways, with that being a different issue altogether, the story right now has got to do with the advancement of the Deccan Chargers after their win over KXIP.

The Deccan Chargers came back from nowhere to win the game yesterday against the Kings XI Punjab after the latter scored 174 runs and in the process losing just 3 wickets. This somehow has got to do with Pragyan Ojha who is wearing the purple cap this time. At one point of time in this tournament, the same Deccan Chargers were found being placed in the 7^th position with only Kings XI Punjab having a worse record compared to them. And, after yesterday's win, the Deccan Chargers are now placed in the 4^th position which is more than enough for them to make it to the knock out stage.

If the teams with orange cap holders are found choking in the semi finals of the tournament, when it comes to teams having a purple cap holder, it has always been a sign of fortune with both the teams triumphing with them having a purple cap holder in them. Though the Mumbai Indians have at present in the top most position and stand apart when compared to the other 7 teams, a loss in the semi finals is more than enough to see them ending their dreams in this edition of the IPL. Just before the match against the Kings XI Punjab, the Deccan Chargers were placed in the 6^th position.

This means that it was a matter of just one match that could make a difference for the same. If their earlier record was considered, the Deccan Chargers were thought to play a spoilsport by not making it to the semi finals of the IPL when it was placed in the 6^th position, thus turning down all the misfortune and fortune that was until the last edition bought by orange cap and purple cap holders. But, the case has changed since yesterday's match. Irrespective of who topped the rankings and who did not, semi finals is totally a different game. This was evident with the Delhi team losing in the semis last year after having 2 wins in the league stages the same edition.

And, this time, in case the Mumbai team loses either in the semis (which is evident with Sachin wearing the orange cap), one can see a glimpse of South Africa in them.