The ride to the IPL 2015 Playoffs

The ride to the IPL 2015 Playoffs: After the world cup wrapped up in Australia, all eyes were set on the IPL 8 which was going to begin on the 8th of April. The customary IPL opening ceremony held on the 6th April, at Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata was a sure-shot flop show when it was first delayed by rain for a couple of hours and then by not-so-happening performances by the Bollywood stars. It was only Hrithik Roshan who stole some hoots from the fans.

The real entertainment in IPL began with the league matches from 8th of April. The first match was played between KKR and MI in which the hit-man Rohit Sharma made a blistering unbeaten 98 but KKR overpowered them and won by 7 wickets. This match was followed by a nail-biting match between CSK and DD. The IPL started with some great and brilliant matches. It saw its first century in the fourth match from the New Zealander Brendon McCullum. The Indian T20 league is all about cric-tainment and Gayle is the best man to serve the purpose. He scored a quick fire 96 runs chasing a good target set by KKR. The league continued with a super over between RR and KXIP, centuries from McCullum, Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers, extravagant catches, brilliant comeback performances from Ashish Nehra, Zaheer Khan, and Harbhajan Singh. We also saw young cricketers performing at their best. The likes of Shreyas Iyer, Sarfaraz Khan, Hardik Pandya, Anureet Singh and many more.

The Difference:

This season has been full of surprises. KXIP the team which was enjoying purple patch last season, totally lost its momentum this time. The defending champions KKR, played like they were continuing their victory run but with a few hiccups. DD who have rested at the bottom of the table from last 3 seasons showed a lot of improvement but not enough to get through to the playoffs. RCB looked fresh and determined to get to the playoffs with performances from each and everyone in the team.
With a disciplined mentor, RR has played their matches with umpteen decency and Ajinkiya Rahane had the privilege to have the orange cap for most of the matches but was later took over by David Warner of the SRH. The Australian captaining the SRH had a tough season and was fighting till the end for a place in the playoffs. CSK has been consistent all throughout the IPL seasons and this season was no different and Dhoni ensured that the top berth is secured by his team. The purple has been with the Super Kings first with Nehra and now with Bravo.

The Best Season so far:

There have been many close matches and the fans were enthralled with mind-blowing performances from youngsters and legends. This season is undoubtedly the best IPL season as no one knew which four teams will get a chance to play in the playoffs. It was not confirmed till the result of the last match of the league stage. With exciting matches, there were quite a few matches which were washed out by rain at Kolkata, Bangalore and Hyderabad. The fans were sad over the rain interruption but RCB played a stunner of an innings against the SRH in a rain curtailed match giving goose bumps till the end.

These 5 weeks of summer has entertained the fans at its best and the tournament is at its peak now. The playoffs which are going to be played at Mumbai, Pune and Ranchi will be no less than firework show. All eyes will be set on to see the champions of IPL 8. Will CSK win another season? Can MI beat CSK in the qualifiers? Can RCB get a chance to win their first season? Do the Rajasthan Royals possess enough potential to get to the finals? Well, only time will tell! We have seen the crunchiest of the matches this season and the final 4 matches are yet not over. Hold on to your seat belts and get ready for the playoffs folks!