IPL 2018: Three teams which might not qualify for the Playoffs

It's been two weeks into the Indian Premier League and we have witnessed some pulsating action already.

From KL Rahul's fastest IPL fifty (50 off 14 balls) to Rashid Khan's bowling 18 dot balls in a 4-over spell, the IPL has unleashed some memorable moments thus far. As we enter the third week of the tournament, most of the teams have played 4-matches, giving us a sneak into their team combinations and overall strength and weaknesses of their squads.

That said, in this blog today we will analyze the aforementioned facts and try to list down three teams that won't qualify for the IPL 2018 Playoffs.

Here's my analysis:

#3 Delhi Daredevils

So much was expected of Delhi Daredevils to finally shed their tag of perennial underachievers, especially with Gautam Gambhir and Ricky Ponting at the helm.

Delhi have played 4 matches so far, having lost three of them. In my view, there are two problems that have plagued the Delhi side, which is something that might derail their charge in the run-up to the IPL playoffs. Firstly, apart from Gautam Gambhir, Delhi has too fragile a top and middle-order in Jason Roy, Glenn Maxwell, and Rishabh Pant, all who play a similar one-dimensional brand of hit-and-a-miss cricket. With Gambhir and Iyer not in the best of forms, the batting looks too thin, evident from their 71 run loss against Kolkata Knight Riders.

The second and most critical factor is their bowling. While veteran leggie Amit Mishra was benched after KL Rahul took him to the cleaners in the first match, his replacement Shahbaz Nadeem has gone in excess of 10-runs per over.

While Tewatia has been the lone shining light in the spinning department, their fast bowling department is too dependent on Kiwi Trent Boult. The likes of Mohammed Shami, Chris Morris, and Dan Christian have all been ordinary with the ball, and it might prove to be the Achilles heel for Delhi in the long-run.

#2 Royal Challengers Bangalore

The same old story

Every year, before the start of the season, the Royal Challengers from Bangalore assemble a batting line-up that is the envy of the cricket world. This year too, with the likes of Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Brendon McCullum, and Quinton de Kock, RCB boast of an enviable line-up. But as they often say, it is the right team combinations and balance that transforms a team into a champion unit.

In the four matches that RCB has played, it is pretty clear that they are too dependent on their top-order in Kohli, de Villiers and de Kock, and lack quality lower-order finishers coupled with a dearth of death-bowling options.

While Umesh Yadav has been outstanding in the powerplay, going at 3.75 runs per over, he falls off the rails equally drastically. Umesh's economy in his third and fourth spells is 8.67 and 15.75 per over respectively, and with RCB's bowling conceding 200 plus totals in the last two matches, the problem may lead to catastrophic events as far their campaign is concerned.

#1 Chennai Super Kings

CSK are fighting with a lot of external factors.

Now, this may annoy a lot of people, especially with CSK winning two of their three matches so far, but in my view, there are few chinks in the Chennai Super Kings armour that may derail their surge towards the playoffs in IPL 2018.

In the three matches that Chennai has played, two things have become pretty evident. Firstly, they lack a quality death bowler, in the absence of which it is pretty difficult to stop the flow of runs at the backend of the innings, which is evident from its bowlers bleeding a plethora of runs, thus shifting the momentum to the batting side.

That said, Chennai is also plagued with injuries. While Faf du Plessis has not yet recovered to full-fitness, Suresh Raina has already missed one game and is expected to miss another due to the calf injury. Also, with the majority of the CSK squad on the wrong side of the 30s, the manner in which players hold up during the course of this long tournament will certainly define their campaign.

Apart from the above-listed factors, the most pivotal point that could play a massive part in CSK's fortunes is that they will no longer play their home games at Chepauk, a ground that they managed to convert into a fortress over the years.

Home advantage is pivotal for any team's fortunes in the IPL and with Chepauk no more their home ground, it may turn out to be catastrophic for the franchise.