Play offs round up - by Rehan

Rank	Team	Why
1	GLCC	GLCC still heads the table in the after math of the first round of play offs. Most of the GLCC folks were watching the RBCC/Greens game very closely. I am sure this hard work will pay off when they face RBCC in the QF game. On paper GLCC appears to be clear favorites and no one is expecting any surprise here but just by looking at the last two games that RBCC had played, GLCC can't afford to be complacent. RBCC is a team who is showing a lot of mental strength and must be felxing their muscles to cast the biggest upset of DCL 2009. However GLCC is a seasoned compaigner and will most likely come out as winner.
2	MegaBytes	Gowtham's MegaBytes will resume their journey to the title when they face Strikers in the QF. Strikers team is known for their hot and cold performances. One day they take the breath out of one team, the other day they produce an unbelievably flat performance. MegaBytes are a clear favourite to take this contest but I have a feeling that Strikers won't let them move forward without a fight. MegaBytes is a team full of Star players and any one can come out as a match winner with both bat and ball on any given day. A lot of people are expecting some magic from Gowtham and Binod to see their team through, so let's se......
3	Gladiators	Gladiators finally took the revenge of last year's QF mishap against team Lions with a comprehensive win. Shaik and Gumbar again lead the pack with both bat and ball. Outstanding bowling performance by Shashi and Reddy wasn't enough to restrict the strong Gladiators batting line-up as Glads managed to reach a healthy total which in the end proved enough. Gladiators used 8 bowlers in their defence of the total, which shows the strength in their bowling arsenal. Next up is a team whom they missed out playing in the regular season so it ends up the way Viju had predicted earlier as "It will be for all the marbles". The last time these two met in a play off, Browstown survived with a last ball win by 2 runs !!!! You can make your own predictions for this game. Surely Viju will come up with a plan to get rid of Brownstown's stubborn opening pair and it will be interesting to see how he uses his strong weapon of quality spin aka Mr. Gumbar. However i predict that it will be a contest between Brownstown's pace barrage of Rehan B, Mujahid and Javed against the big hitters Raja, Viju , Sankar and Naeem.
4	Juggernauts	Well it didn't surprise many when Juggernauts nailed down Cougars without much fuss. Juggs bowling lived up to the expectations when they bowled Cougars out for a mere 56 (lowest total off all the 6 games played). Even though Juggs lost 5 wickets while chasing, it was still a very comprehensive win. Next up is Indus which may not be an easy opponent to face. The pundits are expecting a cracker of a game and the outcome of this game is not be easy to predict. Anand and co. needs to take out Raj and Nitya early. Their batting also needs a lift in their performance against a disciplined Indus bowling attack. I will give Juggs 60-40 to win this game
5	Brownstown	Brownstown finally showed some glimpse of a defending champion. 'Bracket Contest' shows that their were quite a few predictions in favor of Falcons and rightly so, but Brownstown is known for peaking at the right time. It is however early to make this claim but they have certainly stirred up the tournament with their comprehensive win. A disciplined performance in the field followed by a solid openeing partnership is not what many (including themselves) expected. Every bowler chipped in with wicket(s) while giving away few runs. Fielding was also sharp with as many as 4 became victims behind stumps. Aravind and Rajeev tried to lift the score by playing some big shots but lack of support from the other end didn't allow this to happen. Brownstown openers see through the dangerous Rajeev and Sriknath with caution which resulted in the drop-jaw performance from the rest of the bowlers. A 50 runs opening stand pretty much sealed the deal. Next up is Gladiators who are playing top-class cricket and are blessed with quality fast bowlers along with 'Raja'. Brownstown holds the advantage though and are 60-40 favourites for this game but it all depends on how their bowling fare against a strong batting line-up.
6	Strikers	As expected Strikers took care of the STARS with ease. STARS failed to impress throughout the play-offs and their continuous slump finally resulted in their exit. Strikers are a team with energy and power. On any given day, they can surprise any team. Having shared the night tournament trophy with Falcons, they certainly have the confidence and momentum with them to face the huge chanllenge posed by Mighty Megs. Tushar, Parthiv and co. will have to produce a gem in all departments to produce an upset victory.
7	RBCC	RBCC showed their mental strength in chasing a decent total against a desciplined bowling line-up. An early top order collapse didn't produce any panic in the focussed RBCC camp. Venkat and Naveen were outstanding with the ball, while Rajesh and Praveen showed the depth in RBCC batting line-up. It was a close game all the way to the end but Rajesh and Praveen never lost their composure and saw their team through comfortably. GLCC camp was watching this game closely. They should do their home work well and need to make sure that they do not allow any such partnership going in their QF game.
8	Indus	The only survivor of the Pool Y team, that is team 'Indus' is now looking very dangerous. Looks like the knee blow (ghutne se) from Nitya to his team mates did the trick and charged them up to produce an sterling performance. Team Bridges finally fell off the bridge as their famous bowling duo failed to trigger a collapse. Naveen was the lone fighter with the bat as the early fall of Aditya and Phani resulted in a modest total. Raj Sehgal showed what an asset he is to the team with a brilliant display of resolute batting. He was well supported by Sagar. Indus team is playing like the cornered tigers and if they continue this momentum, they are poised to cast more surprises. Anand's Juggernauts needs to roll up their sleeves to face the challenge now posed by Indus. This will be a very interesting game to watch and not an easy one to predict.