Tata IPL 2025 – Strange Playoff Brackets
I
am a sucker for tournament playoff brackets. I used to literally pour over the
NCAA Basketball Tournament matchups to see how difficult a route the University
of Kentucky−the perennial potential Final Four team and rarely succeeding−and which
teams could upset the Wildcats (the nickname). Same goes for the French Open,
the Wimbledon, the US Open, the Australian Open tennis tournaments, my
favourite being John McEnroe, no matter the surface. To top it all off, when I
returned to India, I organized, conducted and won a Carron Board tournament in
my office (during lunch time). This was done in the Double Elimination format.
The
above is merely to let my readers know that I know what I am talking about in
the following lines as regards the Tata IPL 2025 playoff brackets. It is strange,
a mongrel, neither a single elimination format nor a full throated double
elimination one. I wonder why this format.
When
IPL started there were only eight teams and they played fourteen matches during
the season (the same number as now when there are 10 teams). OK, 14 league
matches is too few for the true cream to rise to the top. Therefore, for the
tournament to pick a champion with a semblance of credibility, it cannot be
through a single elimination format. Some bright fellow came up with the format
I give below. This format is being used for the 18th time, if I am
not mistaken,
I
better describe/explain the above graphic, hand drawn just so you would not
point out some insignificant error. First off, you have two brackets, Bracket ‘W’
and Bracket ‘L. The second one comes into existence only when the first round
gets over. The first round pits the top team coming out of the league play
against the fourth ranked team. This is the “benefit” the top rank team gets
for its performance in the league stage. The remaining two teams, ranked second
and third play against each other, the pity being the second ranked team has a nominally
and rank-wise stronger team than the top team! One man’s earned benefit
translates into another’s unearned drawback! Sport mimics life!
The
losers of the matches (indicated within a square) get relegated to the bracket ‘L’,
stands for losers! The rest of the schedule, leading to the eventual champion,
of who plays who is clear from the graphic.
The
IPL chart appears to match the Double Elimination format. It differs in one
critical way. The loser in the match between the third place and the fourth
place teams does not get a chance to repair its loss through a subsequent win. That
is why, perhaps, this match is called the “Eliminator”.
Another
point is, though less significant, the format pits, again nominally, the top
ranked team and the next one. The match that starts off the tournament is the
strongest match on paper. Only last night (May 29, 2025) we saw how that paper
thing worked – Punjab Kings got blasted by Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Now
Punjab Kings are still alive in the tournament. So, do not yet write them off!
In
the Double Elimination format, all the four teams have to play two matches to
get to the Championship match. In which bracket, ‘W’ or ‘L’, the second match is critical as the first match does not eliminate anyone. The second life is guaranteed.
It
is on that score the current format of IPL is strange and the straight forward
double Elimination tournament is fairer.
One
other point: the Champion has to win a minimum of three matches to lift the
trophy in Double Elimination, and in the current IPL format, one team can lift the trophy in two matches wheras the other two have to play two matches just to get to the final match.Unfair, isn't it?.
Who
would bell the strange IPL cat? Not me.
Raghuram
Ekambaram
No comments:
Post a Comment