Why are the Top 4 teams in the Top 4?

Why are the Top 4 teams in the Top 4?: There are no easy games in the IPL. All teams look strong on paper and each team had made changes in their squad at the auction. There were some interesting buys like KC Cariappa for a huge fee and some big International stars like Tillakaratne Dilshan and Hashim Amla didn’t attract any bids. So why is that after spending so much money and despite of there being a plan for picking the squad the bottom 4 teams are at the bottom? THE TOP HALF – Settled XI: CSK 2015. (Photo Source: BCCI) CSK has always kept their core players together and has always made some shrewd signings in the auction. They haven’t over loaded their squad with overseas players like some teams as for each game only 4 overseas players can play. Their smart buying policy has yielded some amazing results. Bravo and Smith are perfect examples of players who have re-discovered themselves at CSK. This year they brought in Hussey as they were aware of the fact that McCullum will leave towards the end of the tournament. Their team spirit and a mix of seasoned International and young players are the key reasons for their success. Also the fact that their big guns have fired for most of the games is another important reason behind CSKs success. And the fact that they had a settled starting XI (which even kept the expensive Irfan Pathan out) helped CSK in achieving consistency. Peaked at the Right Time: MI 2015. (Photo Source: BCCI) MI has always been notoriously sloppy when it comes to retaining players. Maxwell, Smith and Bravo are few such examples. But they always managed to get some fresh blood in the team. This year Mumbai bought Finch and McClenaghan among others. Though Finch was ruled out of the tournament for an injury and the latter has done extremely well to take MI to the final. This team has always played best when under the gun. The present and the previous season started badly for them, but their ability to pull together and re-build the momentum during the IPL has been magnificent. All the players this season have chipped in with invaluable performances. Star Performers: RCB 2015. (Photo Source: BCCI) Royal Challengers Bangalore has the most star studded line up in the IPL. Gayle, AB de Villiers, Kohli and Starc are their key players and all of them have been in superb form for the team. These 4 players have literally taken it upon themselves to make RCB a real contender for the trophy. While other have regularly contributed with decent performances but the form of these 4 is the key to RCB’s success. Without Starc they struggled at the start but since his return the Bangalore bowling attack has looked invincible. Sammy and Karthik were expensive flops while Wiese has done reasonably well after they were bought this year by RCB. Sarfaraz Khan was the surprise package among all and he has shown his talent at a very early stage of his career. Simple but Stars: Rajasthan Royals 2015. (Photo Source: BCCI) RR’s auction policy is simple, meanwhile also holding on to their key players. Every season they have blooded in some new youngsters and lesser known names of world cricket and made them stars for the team. Faulkner is one such discovery by the RR. Chris Morris was the only notable buys for them this season and has done quite well in the tournament. RR’s key strength is their local pool of players. Samson, Ankit Sharma, Tambe, Kulkarni, Hooda and Nair are just some of the players who have done reasonably well. Watson, Rahane, Smith and Faulkner are their key players and apart from Faulkner everyone has delivered some memorable performances this year. THE BOTTOM HALF – The Problem of Plenty: KKR 2015. (Photo Source: BCCI) KKR will consider themselves unlucky not to qualify after some decent performances. But the one man who had brought them so much success was not in form – Sunil Narine. Without him their bowling suffered and the batting too showed intermittent form. Brad Hogg was brought in as cover and he delivered some brilliant performances for the KKR. But they lost Neesham for the series who is a good T20 player. Kolkata also missed Shakib Al Hasan for large parts of the tournament due to his commitment to International cricket. The Indian players failed to produce consistent performances and coupled with their International stars’ form, KKR had a poor season. They were still in touching distance of the PlayOffs (largely due to Andre Russell) but it seems unlikely that they would have gone any further. KC Cariappa was the biggest mystery buy and at a huge price. KKR had Chawla, Hogg, Narine, Cariappa and Botha as spinners in their squad. Definitely more than what they needed and hence Cariappa didn’t get a single game. One Man Army: SRH 2015. (Photo Source: BCCI) The Sunrisers were another team who produced some commanding performances but ultimately fell short of a top half finish. Skipper David Warner was brilliant with the bat and his captaincy was smart in most games. They had bought Pietersen who remained unavailable for the season, Eoin Morgan was underplayed and Williamson who was not at all used to his potential. Their expensive flop was Praveen Kumar who didn’t justify his price tag. But the biggest conundrum they faced was Boult VS Steyn. Steyn is certainly looking like a shadow of his former self and was used sparingly by SRH to no effect. Boult and Bopara were impressive in short spells. Dhawan and Ishant Sharma – seasoned internationals -failed to deliver memorable performances. They chopped and changed their line up a little too much and thus failed to achieve any consistency. Yes Money, No wins: Delhi Daredevils 2015. (Photo Source: BCCI) DD had yet another poor season after some interesting and ambitious buys in the auction. DD had again tried to change their line up completely but failed to deliver on the pitch yet again. Albie Morkel, Yuvraj, Sandhu, Iyer, Mathews, Zaheer Khan, Unadkat and Amit Mishra, Imran Tahir, JP Duminy are some of the players they bought but still the season ended like every other for Delhi. Yuvraj was the most expensive buy of this year who failed miserably in this edition. Each run by Yuvraj approximately costed DD 8L rupees. Mathews was another expensive flop for this team. JP Duminy was the only player and leader who led from the font and produced some great performances consistently throughout the season. Overall the team failed to gel well and get some momentum going. Even the great Gary Kirsten failed to bring joy to the Delhi Daredevils. From the Top to the Base: Kings XI Punjab 2015. (Photo Source: BCCI) KXIP were the finalists in the last season and this year they ended at the Top but on the wrong end of the table. Murali Vijay was the only notable arrival for KXIP this season but he failed to shine. They relied on the players’ who performed for them last season to continue delivering the goods but they failed to come true to the managements’ expectation. A gap of one year is too big to depend on the same players. Especially when you have someone like Sehwag opening the innings, who isn’t getting any younger. KXIP failed to upgrade their squad and their key players from last season failed to discover their touch. Maxwell, Bailey, Johnson were all poor. Marsh too was poor except just one game against the RR where they won after a super over. David Miller could well be termed an exception in this squad as he was a lone fighter with the bat. Indian recruits in Sandeep Sharma, Aruneet Singh and Axar Patel did justify their selection.

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Why are the Top 4 teams in the Top 4?

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