The Indian Premier League is nearly two-thirds done and the real action begins now. With 14 league matches, all teams have enough time to make mistakes, try out combinations and still be in a position to make the cut for the playoffs.
However, like every year, a few teams have stood out from the very start, either for their brilliance or near hopelessness.
Rajasthan Royals have stormed to the lead in the points table, and it is clear why. The Sanju Samson-led Royals have one of the more balanced sides of the tournament and not a single batsman in their line-up plays the role of an "anchor", giving them success home and away.
At the other end of the table, Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Mumbai Indians seemed destined to finish last from the start.
Bengaluru are at the bottom of the table with seven defeats from 10 matches, and they only have themselves to blame.
A non-existent bowling line-up and too many players at the top of the order taking their time has made RCB this season's punchbags.
The only reason Mumbai Indians are not at the bottom is because they have too much quality in their side, and have only been held back because of poor leadership from Hardik Pandya and total lack of direction and unity following the unceremonious ousting of Rohit Sharma as captain, which resulted in a serious backlash from fans.
However, all is not lost. Here is where teams stand in the playoffs race.
Have Rajasthan Royals qualified for IPL 2024 playoffs?
With 16 points in the bag, Rajasthan are all but guaranteed a spot in the playoffs. In a 10-team league phase with 14 matches each, eight wins is generally seen as a safe point. However, as Rajasthan would themselves know, there is a mathematical chance of it not being enough.
Last year, Mumbai qualified for the playoffs with eight wins, while Rajasthan missed the cut with seven victories. Had the Royals not lost their penultimate match to RCB, who themselves failed to qualify, Rajasthan and Mumbai would been tied in fourth spot with eight wins. The Royals would have then qualified for the playoffs due to a superior net run rate.
All Rajasthan now need to ensure qualification is to win one from their next five matches.
Are Bengaluru out of playoffs race?
Realistically, yes. With seven defeats to their name, RCB can only rise to 14 points. But for that to happen, they will have to win four of their remaining matches. Even then, they will require other results to go their way and force a multiple-team tie where net run rate will come into play.
If two more teams make it to eight wins, that will more or less mean the end of the road for RCB.
However, they at least seem to have got their act together. Virat Kohli continued his run-scoring form in their last match against Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad, helping RCB chase down 201.
Kohli, who hit an unbeaten 70 off 44 balls, put on an unbeaten stand of 166 with young England all-rounder Will Jacks to steer his team home.
It was Jacks, however, who stole the show with a belligerent 41-ball 100 as RCB won by a huge margin of nine wickets with four overs to spare.
Jacks, who is one of the most devastating T20 players in the world, was promoted up the order and showed Bengaluru fans and management a glimpse of his potential.
It was only against Gujarat on Sunday that RCB picked their best line-up, and in the correct order. Fans hope they will back their batting strength for the remainder of the season, so that there are at least a few positives ahead of the mega auction next year where all players, barring a few, will go back into the central pool.
Mumbai Indians, meanwhile, still have a glimmer of hope. Their batting packs a punch and they also have the best T20 bowler in the world – Jasprit Bumrah. Plus, they have won three and lost six matches so far, which means if they win their next five matches, Mumbai will almost certainly make the playoffs.
The rest of the teams have a good chance of qualification, provided they crack the impact player code. This season has already witnessed a world-record chase of 261, with eight scores in excess of 250, under the new rule, which means teams can use an additional batsman late in the innings, allowing the top order to keep on hitting.
However, as Chennai Super Kings have shown, having a potent bowling attack is the only way to counter teams that seem set on breaching the 300-run mark this season. Teams with stronger bowling attacks, therefore, are most likely to qualify for the next stage.
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Where to donate in the UAE
The Emirates Charity Portal
You can donate to several registered charities through a “donation catalogue”. The use of the donation is quite specific, such as buying a fan for a poor family in Niger for Dh130.
The General Authority of Islamic Affairs & Endowments
The site has an e-donation service accepting debit card, credit card or e-Dirham, an electronic payment tool developed by the Ministry of Finance and First Abu Dhabi Bank.
Al Noor Special Needs Centre
You can donate online or order Smiles n’ Stuff products handcrafted by Al Noor students. The centre publishes a wish list of extras needed, starting at Dh500.
Beit Al Khair Society
Beit Al Khair Society has the motto “From – and to – the UAE,” with donations going towards the neediest in the country. Its website has a list of physical donation sites, but people can also contribute money by SMS, bank transfer and through the hotline 800-22554.
Dar Al Ber Society
Dar Al Ber Society, which has charity projects in 39 countries, accept cash payments, money transfers or SMS donations. Its donation hotline is 800-79.
Dubai Cares
Dubai Cares provides several options for individuals and companies to donate, including online, through banks, at retail outlets, via phone and by purchasing Dubai Cares branded merchandise. It is currently running a campaign called Bookings 2030, which allows people to help change the future of six underprivileged children and young people.
Emirates Airline Foundation
Those who travel on Emirates have undoubtedly seen the little donation envelopes in the seat pockets. But the foundation also accepts donations online and in the form of Skywards Miles. Donated miles are used to sponsor travel for doctors, surgeons, engineers and other professionals volunteering on humanitarian missions around the world.
Emirates Red Crescent
On the Emirates Red Crescent website you can choose between 35 different purposes for your donation, such as providing food for fasters, supporting debtors and contributing to a refugee women fund. It also has a list of bank accounts for each donation type.
Gulf for Good
Gulf for Good raises funds for partner charity projects through challenges, like climbing Kilimanjaro and cycling through Thailand. This year’s projects are in partnership with Street Child Nepal, Larchfield Kids, the Foundation for African Empowerment and SOS Children's Villages. Since 2001, the organisation has raised more than $3.5 million (Dh12.8m) in support of over 50 children’s charities.
Noor Dubai Foundation
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum launched the Noor Dubai Foundation a decade ago with the aim of eliminating all forms of preventable blindness globally. You can donate Dh50 to support mobile eye camps by texting the word “Noor” to 4565 (Etisalat) or 4849 (du).
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
World Sevens Series standing after Dubai
1. South Africa
2. New Zealand
3. England
4. Fiji
5. Australia
6. Samoa
7. Kenya
8. Scotland
9. France
10. Spain
11. Argentina
12. Canada
13. Wales
14. Uganda
15. United States
16. Russia
THE BIO
Favourite author - Paulo Coelho
Favourite holiday destination - Cuba
New York Times or Jordan Times? NYT is a school and JT was my practice field
Role model - My Grandfather
Dream interviewee - Che Guevara
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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UAE cricketers abroad
Sid Jhurani is not the first cricketer from the UAE to go to the UK to try his luck.
Rameez Shahzad Played alongside Ben Stokes and Liam Plunkett in Durham while he was studying there. He also played club cricket as an overseas professional, but his time in the UK stunted his UAE career. The batsman went a decade without playing for the national team.
Yodhin Punja The seam bowler was named in the UAE’s extended World Cup squad in 2015 despite being just 15 at the time. He made his senior UAE debut aged 16, and subsequently took up a scholarship at Claremont High School in the south of England.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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MATCH INFO
What: 2006 World Cup quarter-final
When: July 1
Where: Gelsenkirchen Stadium, Gelsenkirchen, Germany
Result:
England 0 Portugal 0
(Portugal win 3-1 on penalties)
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
