Match day 24 of the 2010 IPL will go down as the marker when people look back as the turning point of the race for the semi-finals. At the start of the day no one expected so, and rightly, for the first game was between Kolkata Knight Riders and Kings XI Punjab. Given all factors plus the fact that the match was being played at the Eden Gardens, this was going to be an easy ride for Sourav Ganguly’s men. But it was anything but that as the Knight Riders faltered. 
The problem with playing a team at the bottle of the table is that if they do turn up on any particular day, the opposition’s chances will be badly hit. In other words Kings XI are the perfect party poopers at the moment with their own chances of making the semis very slim indeed. On any other day a score of 200 for three would suffice against them but not this day as Mahela Jayawardene unleashed a second IPL century in two days, shocking Kolkata with ten balls to spare.
Kolkata have only themselves to blame as they were clearly about thirty runs short of what they should have had. They were 46 for no loss in five overs and at the end of ten overs, the score was 69 for one. That run of five overs where only 23 runs came is where the game, two important points and probably a place in the semis was lost by Ganguly’s team.
The other match of the day was truly an intriguing one, between Delhi Daredevils and the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi. At stake was the second place in the table and a bit of pride as well. Delhi’s three game winning run had begun at Bangalore and since then the Royals have been looking a bit shaky. This was the ideal way to pick some revenge points and be the second best team out there that they really are.
However they made one big mistake. They fixed what wasn’t broken, making too many changes and relying heavily on bowling all-rounders to do the job as they dropped regular opener Manish Pandey and bowlers Dale Steyn and Praveen Kumar. That was a recipe for disaster and Delhi made sure they took full advantage after having drafted in Daniel Vettori.
Paul Collingwood and David Warner again rescued the Daredevils from a poor start and even so 184 for five seemed an on-par target for a deep batting side like Bangalore. But there is something about Vettori’s presence that spurs on Amit Mishra as the bowling spun around Jacques Kallis and company who after a sedate start were never able to break the shackles.
The points table this season shows the teams bunched up closer ever more than the last two years. Mumbai Indians lead the way with 14 points, Delhi have 12 now and Bangalore have ten. Then there are three teams with eight points – Chennai, Rajasthan and Kolkata with Deccan on six points. Kings XI have now gotten four points with their second win of the season.
Now there are four teams highly capable of going on a run and garnering enough points to push into the top four. Deccan though are on a ledge and a couple more losses would leave us with the bottom two rather than just the bottom one. However, that bottom one team – Kings XI Punjab – seems to be the one having a convincing say in who goes through to the semis.
This article was first published at www.cricketworld.com.
