Indian teams lose expected plot
The Age
Monday October 12, 2009
INDIAN Premier League teams Delhi, Bangalore and Deccan were expected to go three from three in their opening matches for the Champions League Twenty20 and they did €” except it was all defeats.After the Daredevils and Royal Challengers were beaten on the first two days of the inaugural tournament it was up to the Deccan Chargers, the reigning IPL champions, to restore the standing of the all-star league by dispatching England's Somerset Sabres. The Chargers started brilliantly with the bat but capitulated leaving the Sabres' Alfonso Thomas to crunch a boundary on the last ball of the match to deliver the visitors a one-wicket win.Champions League organisers, naturally, are hoping all three IPL teams make the semi-finals, to ensure solid demand for tickets as, no doubt, is the television rights holder.Crowds so far in the tournament have, unsurprisingly, been heavily skewed towards matches involving the Indian teams, even in double-headers. On Friday, tickets for the Delhi versus Victoria match also entitled patrons to watch the earlier NSW versus Diamond Eagles match, but the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium remained sparsely populated until the Daredevils' match was about to begin. Television pictures suggested it was similar in Hyderabad on Saturday, where the Cape Cobras-Otago match preceded the Chargers' clash with the Sabres.Deccan still remains a good chance of qualifying to the second round €” the top two of the three-team groups progress €” because its last-ball loss meant only a negligible deficit for its net run-rate, which is used to break a points deadlock. The run-rate situation is worse for Bangalore and more so for Delhi, although the Daredevils could make amends overnight against Wayamba of Sri Lanka.
© 2009 The Age