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The Indian Premier League 2018 has reached its half-way mark. The race for a top-four finish is heating up. While some of the teams were simply spectacular this season, others did not meet the expectations.
We saw some stunning games so far in the tournament. The first-half produced some exceptional T20 cricket and the second-half is going to be a lot more fun.
Without much ado, let’s rank the teams based on their performances in the first-half of the 2018 season.
Delhi Daredevils: 3/10
Delhi Daredevils are having a disastrous IPL season so far. The Gautam Gambhir led franchise have lost five of their six games so far and are 8th in the standings. Their only win this season was against the Mumbai Indians.
Delhi’s struggle can be mainly attributed to their poor batting in the power plays. None of their opening batsmen scored consistently, and Gambhir, in particular, was really poor. Maxwell too struggled a lot and has not made a match-winning contribution so far.
Their bowling attack leaked a lot of runs and were far too inconsistent. As a result, Gambhir stepped down from the captaincy and Shreyas Iyer will lead the team going forward.
Mumbai Indians: 4/10
To be fair to the Mumbai Indians, they don’t deserve to be seventh in the standings even though they were not at their best this season. They have been fairly unlucky so far, losing a couple of matches in the last ball of the 40th over.
Evin Lewis is struggling for runs, and the form of their middle order batsmen has been poor. Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya are awfully out of touch, and it is costing the Mumbai Indians. Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan scored the bulk of their runs, while Markande was brilliant with the ball.
They need to win seven of their eight remaining games to have any chances of qualifying for the playoffs.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: 4.5/10
Royal Challengers Bangalore are relying on only three players at the moment. Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers with the bat, and Umesh Yadav with the ball. Outside of these three, none of the squad has made a match-defining contribution so far.
Bowling is their Achilles heel. In just 6 games this season, the RCB bowling attack has conceded more than 200 runs on three occasions already. They lack a genuine wicket-taker and their death-bowling is dismal.
They managed to win two games only because of AB de Villiers' individual brilliance. Their middle-order is weak and all signs point to a bottom-half finish for the Royal Challengers.
Rajasthan Royals: 5/10
Rajasthan Royals are currently fifth in the IPL 2018 standings. The Royals have been one of the most inconsistent sides of the season. They have played six games so far and won three of them.
Sanju Samson has been the star of the show for Rajasthan Royals until now. Samson was brilliant at no.3 and scored a lot of runs in the tournament. One big area of concern for Royals is the form of their most expensive signing, Ben Stokes. Stokes has been erratic this season with both the bat and ball.
Jofra Archer was brilliant in his debut game, and Gowtham produced one match-winning knock. They need to show some consistency in the second-half to finish in the top four.
Kolkata Knight Riders: 5.5/10
Kolkata Knight Riders started the tournament with a thin squad, and injuries did not help their cause. They lost their strike bowler Mitchell Starc even before the tournament started. They are currently fourth in the table with three wins from six games.
Andre Russell’s brutal hitting and Dinesh Karthik’s steady batting is keeping them afloat in the tournament. Except for Sunil Narine, none of their bowlers are in good form at the moment. KKR has to improve their top order batting and overall bowling in the second-half of the tournament to finish in the top 4.
Kings XI Punjab: 7/10
Ravichandran Ashwin got off to a good start to his captaincy career. With 5 wins from 7 games, Kings XI Punjab is currently in the top-half of the table. They made some shrewd signings in the auction and it has paid off big time.
KL Rahul and Chris Gayle form the most lethal opening batting combination in IPL 2018. The two big hitters have scored more than 200 in the tournament. Karun Nair has also been good with the bat so far.
On the bowling front, Mujeeb Ur Rahman is bowling brilliantly for them. Andrew Tye and Ravichandran Ashwin are backing him up well. Expect a top finish from the Kings XI.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 8/10
Sunrisers Hyderabad are the best bowling unit in the IPL 2018. Even without their best bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar, they defended small totals twice, namely 118 and 132 in their last two games.
Kane Williamson is scoring runs consistently at the top. Their bowling deserves a special mention here. Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddarth Kaul, Shakib Al Hasan, Basil Thampi, and Sandeep Sharma are all bowling well for SRH at the moment.
If they improve their batting a little, they are a force to reckon with in IPL 2018. A certain top 4 candidate.
Chennai Super Kings: 9/10
It is fair to say Chennai Super Kings are the most successful team in IPL history, and 2018 is no different for MS Dhoni & Co. With five wins in six games, Chennai Super Kings are sitting on top the standings.
Ambati Rayudu has been a revelation this season, and the form of MS Dhoni is extremely good. The captain has played a couple of brilliant match-winning knocks so far.
In the bowling department, young Deepak Chahar is good in the power plays, Imran Tahir is brilliant in the middle-overs, and Dwayne Bravo is exceptional at the death. They are well on their way to finishing in the top 2.
