Play Offs Match up - Rehanul Mallick

DCL 2010 competition has reached its next level as 16 out of 21 teams gear up for the knock out round. Some teams fought it hard to make into this elite group and some planned it hard to clear their path from tougher opponents. And for some teams the laid back season of DCL is over and the real fun is about to begin with the first round of play-offs is ahead of them coming weekend.

A glimpse at those matchups may reveal some apparently un-matched competition, but as we have seen historically, there is always one or two upsets in the early round of play-offs. Just like Goutham mentioned that play-offs is all new game and what happened in regular season games counts less or nothing as one bad day can make us see someone’s back earlier than expected.

MegaBytes along with GLCC seem well above the elite group in the play-offs tree. By grabbing the first two spots they have made sure that they won’t face each other before the Final. However I personally see a very early challenge for MegaBytes as they (most likely) will see Juggernauts much earlier than they would have liked. On the other hand GLCC may be looking at Gladiators and RFCC to stop Brownstown from grabbing the semi-final spot against them.

MegaBytes vs Rockets:
So Megz claimed that they made a history by making into the play-offs without beaten even ones. However I was told this is not a unique feat as there are teams who have achieved this amazing distinction before. Nevertheless it is a great achievement and they have joined this elite group. . They came close to this feat last year but were undone by GLCC. But this year they have come stronger and harder at their opponents. Rockets had a promising start of the season but disappointed many during the course of their maiden DCL journey. One would hope that they at least give Megz some fight and not just surrender meagerly. Kishore and Zubair have a lot to ponder about and may try to take a leaf from their senior team to test the nerves of Mighty Megz.

GLCC vs Warriors
Warriors is another split of a formidable DCL team who struggled to made into the play-offs but did it in style on the back of a hat trick from Nadeem. But Nadeem and co. have to work much harder in their first ever play off game against the clear cut favorites of the game.

RFCC vs PTS
At the beginning of the season I thought that RFCC will be the team to watch out for as with the merger of two great teams (Falcons and RBCC) and with the addition of express bowler Maqsood they seemed to belong to the same group as MegaBytes and GLCC. But they failed to live up to that expectation during the regular season. But a huge win against Juggs has sent a strong message out to all the opponents who will come in their way. PTS is the first one to face the music. PTS do possess a decent bowling line up but their fragile batting has to be at their best to challenge the strong RFCC team.

Indus vs Greens
Indus has played some really good cricket throughout the season. They have challenged almost every good team and have never went down without a fight. The key to their success is to keep up with the consistent balanced unit (which most teams fail to manage). Now it is time to ripe the fruits of the good work and carry on with the momentum. Greens may not be an easy team to walk through though. They have got some good bowling and some decent batting as well. Indus are still favorites to take this game.

Bridges vs Dynamites
Bridges has reached a unique feat in the history of DCL by breaking the 200 runs barrier. I don’t know if this is a record but it certainly is a huge achievement and that also against a very good team. But they are up against a team who has also entered the play-offs on a high note by beating Strikers. This could be an interesting contest. Lets see if the unknown Dynamites can explode to burn the Bridges of Lansing. Aditya and Phani can not take things lightly here.

Gladiators vs Brownstown
What can I say about this contest? Some where in the mid way of the Round 2, Viju was the one who pointed out the threat Brownstown will possess to Pool X teams in play offs and declared himself save and comfy at the bottom of Pool X. Well guess what, the wily old fox was after all not as smart as he thought. Now that the wily old fox and his gang failed in their strategy to avoid Brownstown, they need to come out with box full of tricks to see off the challenge of a team who is known to be at their best when it comes to Play-offs. However Brownstown are short of good match practice as comfortable Pool Y wins are not the sort of preparation they wanted for tougher play off games. This seems to be the one of the two most interesting and evenly matched game of the first round of Play-off.

Lions vs Strikers
Strikers loss to Dynamites must have brought some relief in the Lions camp but they can’t afford to relax against a team full of energy. Strikers can strike back really hard. Parthiv and Co. needs to shake off the loss against Dynamites and get their act together to face the challenge of Venu’s Lions. I don’t know how many people know that Lions have a very talented player (John Titus) who hasn’t fired yet but he can be as destructive as anything on a given day. This is the other most interesting and evenly matched game of the first round of Play-off.

Juggernauts vs Cougars
Cougars though made into the Pool X, but couldn’t raise their game to put up a fight against the strong teams. I am not sure how much they have enjoyed beating after beating but they should have learned a lesson or two from Pool X games and this should help them in building against stronger opponents. However it may be too early for us to expect them to upset a team in Play-Off. Juggernauts are clear favorite for this game. Dr. Anand may already be sitting on the drawing board, chalking out strategy for their next game against MegaBytes……….