Being an Optimist I'm quite flabbergasted that SRK has already begun apologising when KKR is very much in the reckoning for a semi-final spot especially with the MASSIVE advantage of playing the the last 2 games at home and the final game against a team that has already qualified. They will know the exact run-rate required if it comes down to that and they'll be up against a not-so-motivated Mumbai side who might just take it easy.The road to semifinal will be as shown below:
15 Apr DD must beat CSK | DD 14 from 13 matches CSK 12 from 13 matches
16 Apr KXIP must beat DC | DC 12 from 13 games KXIP 10 from 13 games
17 Apr MI beats RC | RC is 14 from 14 matches
17 Apr KKR beats RR | KKR 12 from 13 matches and RR 12 from 14 matches
18 Apr KXIP beat CSK | CSK 12 from 14 games KXIP 12 from 14 games
18 Apr DD beat DC | DD 16 from 14 game DC 12 from 14 games
19 Apr KKR beats MI | KKR 14 from 14 matches
So other than Mumbai the semifinalist would be RC,KKR,DD. The bottomline is KKR has to win which is too much of expectation from them considering their present performance.
Interestingly KXIP can also reach semifinal if this happens:
15 Apr DD must beat CSK | DD 14 from 13 matches CSK 12 from 13 matches
16 Apr KXIP must beat DC |DC 12 from 13 games KXIP 10 from 13 games
17 Apr MI beats RC | RC 14 from 14 matches
17 Apr KKR beats RR | KKR 12 from 13 matches and RR 12 from 14 matches
18 Apr KXIP beat CSK | CSK 12 from 14 games KXIP 12 from 14 games
18 Apr DD beat DC | DD 16 from 14 game DC 12 from 14 games
19 Apr MI beats KKR | KKR 12 from 14 matches
So other than Mumbai the semifinalists would be RC & DD. The final spot would on run rate between RR,KKR,KXIP,DC,CSK.
Cricket is a funny game and there is a possibility that one of these two equations being correct.
