How Delhi could not even qualify for the semis...

Delhi Daredevils have played superbly in this tournament, no doubt about that. They deserve to be in the semis, even win the tournament for that matter, but this is IPL. What I mean by that is that there is no time for complacency, not even if you are the best. In the end you are supposed to beat the contenders and not just win for the sake of winning matches.

I thought of it the day before yesterday. May 14, 12:28 AM, that's what the creation that reads on the notepad file "delhinotqualifying". But lazy me, did not post it until now. Since then 4 matches have been played and one KKR vs DC is in progress right now so the table is very much rearranged since then. Tough luck for Mumbai losing it out this time, but that was in the plan...

So this is how the team stands right now. And this is what can happen..

If delhi loses all of its 4 matches and Bangalore,Punjab and Rajasthan wins all of its matches with Chennai winning its rest of the 2 matches as well which are not against Bangalore and Punjab this IPL could see
a turn around. That will result in Chennai and Rajasthan qualifying as top two teams and Delhi, Bangalore, Punjab fighting at same points for the two places. The net run rate factor that comes into the picture will give only one result and that is Bangalore and Punjab to qualify as winning matches will boost their run rate and for Delhi losing matches will mean a decline in run rate.

1.) Could Delhi lose all its matches?
2.) Could Punjab win all its matches?
3.) Could Bangalore win all its matches?
4.) Could Rajasthan win all its matches?
5.) Could Chennai win its other matches with Mumbai and Kolkata?
If answer to all the above five questions is "YES" then it would be
bye bye Delhi. The biggest turnaround ever that would be remembered for
a long time. But that seems far from possible considering the form
Delhi is in and the position Delhi is in. But then it wouldn't be
called "The Biggest Turnaround" just like that would it?


So this is what it read like on May 14, 12:28 AM. Since then the 4 matches that have been played are:

RCB vs CSK (May 14) RCB won
MI vs RR (May 14) RR won
KXIP vs DD (May 15) KXIP won
CSK vs MI (May 16) CSK won

If you read the 5 equations above you must have figured out that the 4 matches have satisfied them very well uptil now. You must be wondering how is that possible. Let's see how many points would each team have if the above equations are met.

Chennai 17
Rajasthan 17
Bangalore 16
Punjab 16
Delhi 16
Mumbai 13
Hyderabad 12 (+ 2/0)
Kolkata 3 (+ 2/0)
(All matches played except DC vs KKR)

As is evident from the table Chennai and Rajasthan finishes up as the top two teams with Bangalore, Punjab, Delhi fighting for the 3rd and 4th place. The NRR would play a major role in deciding that and if Delhi lose out on that, they would not even see themselves for the semis.