The biggest development in the Indian Premier League (IPL) this week was the news that there might be a mini IPL, taking the place of the Champions League Twenty20, and it could be staged here in the UAE.
On the field, the eighth season is coming to its play-off stages.
Chennai Super Kings
Chennai qualified for the play-offs first, after beating Rajasthan Royals last Sunday by 12 runs, which confirmed their status as the strongest team in the history of the IPL.
It should also make them favourites for their third title.
They have never finished outside the top four and have been runners-up three times.
Theirs is not a radical formula: stability is the overriding factor, the same captain for eight years, two coaches and an unchanging core.
This year, their pace bowling has stood out, a facet they had trouble with last season.
Dwayne Bravo and a revitalised Ashish Nehra have been vital with 38 wickets between them.
Behind them, Ishwar Pandey, Mohit Sharma and Ravi Ashwin have all contributed.
The batting has traded more on collective strength rather than individual bursts of brilliance, though Brendon McCullum has had his moments.
They are an ominous side.
Rajasthan Royals
The National's verdict on the Rajasthan Royals before the season began predicted that "the influence of the three major Australian players may seep through the side this year and push them onto bigger things".
Steve Smith, Shane Watson and James Faulkner, World Cup winners, have had an influence and it may push the league’s “Moneyball” side to greater glory.
The key moment in their campaign came when Watson relinquished the captaincy to Smith.
That freed him up to concentrate on his batting, having failed to go past fifty since his first game.
Benefits emerged quickly, and Watson smashed a ton on Saturday to overcome Kolkata Knight Riders.
That win guaranteed them a spot in the play-offs, only the second time since their memorable 2008 tournament win.
It made up for the disappointment of last year, when a play-off spot was snatched away by Mumbai Indians.
Momentum is not on their side, however, as after they won their first five games this season, they lost five of their next six before qualifying.
Royal Challengers Bangalore
On paper, Bangalore should not just qualify for the play-offs, they should win the tournament.
There is the batting line-up of Chris Gayle (waning, admittedly, but still a match winner), AB de Villiers, Virat Kohli, Dinesh Karthik and this season’s sensation, the cherubic teenager Sarfaraz Khan, backed by a bowling contingent headed by the world’s in-form limited-overs bowler Mitchell Starc.
The bowling may not be as star-studded overall as the batting but behind Starc has been Yuzvendra Chahal’s leg-spin, which has had an impact, as well as the muscular pace of South African David Wiese.
Also, even more than their opponents, Bangalore have had to overcome the elements.
Four of their matches have been interrupted by rain, the latest this weekend when they chased down 81 in less than six overs against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
That was their sixth win in eight games, so they have form.
Coach Daniel Vettori has rightly credited Kohli’s leadership for that run.
The captain took 12 off three balls in the weekend win and called the result “the two most important points” RCB have collected in the past three years.
Mumbai Indians
Mumbai have been the glamour side in the IPL since the start.
Their ownership, the geography and history as the country’s most successful domestic side, the financial capital, the big names and the Bollywood support have made it so. But given their resources, they have also been high-profile underachievers: glamorous, but not really successful. This season, though, they are the other side in the play-offs with momentum. Though coach Ricky Ponting has said they are still to play their best cricket, they have won seven of their past eight games.
It says something about the side, though, that they lost their first five games. Captain Rohit Sharma, Ambati Rayudu, Lendl Simmons and Kieron Pollard have all made contributions just not consistently enough.
The old warriors Lasith Malinga and Harbhajan Singh, with some help from Mitchell McClenaghan, have kept them afloat, but the total effect has always felt less than the sum of its parts.
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