IPL 2021: Who will win it this time?

Indian Premier League is the most prominent & one of the most celebrated tournaments across the globe. Back in 2007, none of us knew that the IPL would gain the largest viewership after English Premier League. Cricket fans look forward to this time of the year when IPL is telecasted live to their television screens. There is no doubt that IPL has also helped to nurture the talent which India already had. Indian cricket has reached a point where its cricket board can have two different teams with the same level of talent to play two different tournaments at the same time. IPL has turned out to be an asset for the country’s cricket talent.

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Suspension of IPL 2021

This year’s IPL came to an unexpected halt mid-way due to a sudden rise in COVID cases from inside the bio bubble. The last match of this season’s IPL was played on 2nd May between Punjab Kings & Delhi Capitals. The decision came into existence when Kolkata Knight Rider’s Varun Chakravarthy and seam bowler Sandeep Warrier tested positive for Covid-19. Many Australian players left the IPL early as the coronavirus crisis worsened, with Adam Zampa and Kane Richardson choosing to follow AJ Tye home. Rajasthan Royals batsman Liam Livingstone opted to return to England citing “bubble fatigue” after spending much of the last 10 months moving in and out of biosecure environments. R. Ashwin, India and Delhi Capitals spin spearhead, also chose to cut short his IPL season on April 25 to be with family.

Resumption of IPL 2021

Since the suspension of the tournament, there were already speculations about the resumption of it. BCCI took a final call in the second week of June & decided to resume the league in UAE. It will begin again on 19th September & will be wrapped up in a month. The remainder of the matches will be happening in UAE. There is a probability that a lot of international cricket stars won’t be able to take part in it.

Present status of IPL Point table

Prediction – Who will win the IPL this season?

According to the current point table of IPL 2021, three teams are in a good position to qualify for the playoffs. Delhi Capitals, Chennai Super Kings, Royal Challengers Bangalore are in a comfortable position to be a part of the next round.

One team which will outshine every other team & win this year’s IPL will be Royal Challengers Bangalore. The Royals Challengers Bangalore franchise is going through one of its best years in the India Premier League. They are currently third in the IPL 2021 points table having won five of the seven games played, so far. There are five major reasons why Royal Challengers Bangalore can turn out to be the winners of this season.

Impressive First Half of the league

The Royal Challengers Bangalore have shown a lot of promise this season. They have won five out of the seven matches played so far and have managed to put in a

 collective performance in the first half of the season. Royal Challengers Bangalore defeated the table-toppers – Delhi Capitals by 1 run in a thrilling encounter at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad. They have held their nerves perfectly in difficult situations, shaping the match result in their favor. The franchise has earned 10 points so far and will find it comparatively easy to qualify for the knockout stages.

Brilliant Bowling lineup

The bowling squad of RCB was often considered the weakest link of the team. This weakest link of RCB has turned itself into their strength for this year. The likes of Kyle Jamieson and Harshal Patel have developed the knack of picking wickets in crucial situations. Their bowling line-up has collectively picked up 45 wickets, the second-most by a bowling attack this season. Their right-arm medium pacer, Harshal Patel is the current Purple Cap holder with 17 wickets in 7 matches, with 5/27 being his best. Harshal has conceded runs at a 9.17 economy rate, but his wicket-taking capability is what has made him the standout performer.

AB de Villiers and Glenn Maxwell

Glenn Maxwell joined the Royal Challengers Bangalore team this year and with AB De Villiers has become one of the major reasons behind the team’s success.

Glenn Maxwell has been RCB’s top performer this year, with 226 runs in 7 matches including two fifties. He currently averages 37.16 with a strike rate of 144.80. The fearless middle-order batsman scored 59, which included 5 boundaries and 3 maximums against the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 6th match of the season turned out to be a match-winning effort for his side.  AB de Villiers although at the fag end of his career also looks to be in great shape, with 207 runs in seven matches.

Top 4 match winners of the league

With the likes of Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal featuring in RCB’s top order, it is arguably one of the best batting line-ups in IPL 2021. Glenn Maxell and AB De Villiers lit up the first half of IPL 2021 for RCB with their batting performance. Collectively the RCB batting order has put up a scintillating performance in the first half of Indian Premier League 2021.

Python Prediction

Adish Jain, an RCB fan, has made a prediction for RCB to win the trophy using Python language. The simulation takes into consideration the ball-by-ball games and other factors such as different kinds of pitches, match-ups, recent form, and records of teams and the players. Adish shared his process in detail with Wisden.com.

“I extracted each player’s past five years’ data for batsmen and bowlers. What kind of runs a batsman scored – singles, doubles, fours or sixes – what kind of runs the bowlers leaked, against what bowling did a batsman thrive, when they scored their runs – powerplay, middle overs or death – what mode of dismissal bowlers dismissed batsmen the most with and vice-versa how batsmen got out. This includes detailed data such as frequency of wides or no balls or the average catches taken by a player in a game,”

According to the Python simulation, RCB won the IPL after beating the Delhi Capitals, who once again lost in the final hurdle.

Here is the points table and the results of the playoffs.

The Playoffs:

• Qualifier 1 – DC v RCB (RCB won)
• Eliminator – CSK v PBKS (PBKS won)
• Qualifier 2 – PBKS v DC (DC won)
• Final – DC v RCB (RCB won)