The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2017 has
reached an exciting stage with four teams battling for the remaining three
play-off spots. Mumbai Indians (MI) are the only side to have qualified for the
knockouts as of May 13 at the time of printing. Now, it is the battle between
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS), Sunrisers Hyderabad
(SRH), and Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) to secure the remaining three slots.
With the IPL 2017 reaching yet another
exciting stage, the fans of KKR, RPS, KXIP and SRH are putting their cricket
punditry to test and trying out all permutations and combinations that could
decide the fate of their teams. On the other hand, the fans of Delhi Daredevils
(DD), Gujarat Lions (GL) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) are trying hard
to get over the poor performance of their respective teams. For the sheer love
of the sport, these fans are now busy picking their second most favourite team
from those who are still in the race.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
Achintya Gawade from Aldona, a die-hard
supporter of Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS), says, “We need a win in our last
league game to see us through. We have a chance of going through even if we
lose, provided Sunrisers loses to Gujarat.” Gawade, who is actually a fan of
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) but is now rooting for RPS in the absence of CSK, is
also well aware of the reasons that could lead to RPS’s departure. Gawade says,
“For Pune to get knocked out, we must lose to Kings XI, Sunrisers must beat
Gujarat, and Kolkata should avert a heavy defeat against Mumbai. I am confident
we will sail through.”
If one had to do a survey of which IPL team
enjoys the biggest fandom in Goa, Chennai Super Kings, although it has been
suspended temporarily and is not a part of IPL 2017, will emerge a clear
winner. The second most favoured team, Kolkata Knight Riders, enjoys a healthy
fan base, especially among the Bengali community living in Goa. Soumik
Bhattacharya from Vasco, an ardent support of KKR, says, “We are almost assured
of qualification following Delhi’s win over Pune with only a distant
mathematical possibility ruling out our progress. Our qualification will be
rubber-stamped if either Sunrisers or Kings XI lose their last league fixture.”
The remaining two teams – Sunrisers
Hyderabad and Kings XI Punjab have their own set of things to take care of. A
win against Gujarat Lions will take Sunrisers (by the time you’d be reading
this, the result of the match will be out) through to the playoffs irrespective
of other results. However, if Sunrisers lose, they will need RPS to beat KXIP
for qualifying. For KXIP, they need to beat RPS today in their last league
match to qualify for the playoffs. In that scenario, KXIP and RPS will have 16
points each, but KXIP will go through because of their net run rate.
Café spoke to a few young Goan IPL
fans and this is what they had to say:
Mumbai Indians have performed brilliantly
this season of IPL. With some great young talent in the team, they have been
the only squad in the tournament that has consistently performed well. Young
guns like Nitish Rana, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, etc, combined with
seasoned players like Rohit Sharma, Malinga and other international players
make Mumbai Indians a force to reckon with. In most probability, I think MI
will walk away with the trophy this year too. – Rahul Govekar, Ponda
I am supporting Sunrisers Hyderabad and I
think they have a good chance of qualifying for the playoffs. Young players
from Afghanistan – Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi – have played exceptionally
well, despite the issues that their country is facing back home. David Warner
is a brilliant cricketer and an able leader who has led the team in a
disciplined manner and extracted the best out of his players. – Udit Golechha,
Panjim
