This format of the game always has, and continues to, personify unpredictability. Who would have thought at the halfway stage that the Mumbai Indians would go on to win the league?!
Let’s rewind a little:
At the halfway stage, with 8 matches down, they had won just three and thus had only 6 points. They had hardly any points on the board and were fighting a losing battle.
Any wins from here on were seeming too little too late as a few wins just wouldn’t cut it. They were hanging by a thread and most people had written them out.
But they came back and went all the way.
It looked like they would need a miracle to even finish in the top four and move on to the qualifiers. Ending at the number two spot, reaching the final and lifting the trophy was almost out of the question.
At this point it would be apt (and clichéd) to say that miracles do happen! But I would not take it away from the Mumbai camp, not even a little.
All credit goes to them. Although their run was initially staggering, they stepped up to the task when they needed to.
Due credit must also been given to the Chenai Super Kings.
They are consistently consistent performers of the IPL. If this kind of a monopoly continues, a time will come when the other teams will just be fighting for those three other spots.
In the 8 seasons of the IPL, the Super Kings have one twice, been runner-up four times and finished in the top four twice. Which means that not in a single season have they failed to qualify.
Given the format of the game, and the unpredictability and uncertainty associated with it, they have achieved a near impossible feat.
To look at it in another way, we could compare this year’s IPL with the classic tortoise and hare race.
CSK is the hare: always going strong, at the top throughout and always ahead, until they stumble a little in the first qualifier.
MI is the tortoise: takes its time to find its pace but once found, goes till the very end, running through that red ribbon at the finish line.
In other words, slowly and steadily winning the race!
Oh how we would have loved for the men and blue to lift the cup two months ago but I guess we would just have to settle for this!
