IPL 4…and the thinking behind it

You would find the Schedule of IPL 4 everywhere..on the internet, on shops, and even huge hoardings at places. But the schedule is somewhat confusing for a person who wants to go a step further and asks as to which are the teams with which Mumbai plays one match and which are the ones with which it plays 2 matches…Hey!!..welcome to IPL 4…the format is confusing…but all the more interesting for someone who wants to delve into it….

The structure is really unique…in more than a few ways…and hats off to the person who conceptualized this format of the tournament, because had the number of teams been 8 instead of the current 10, each team would have still played 14 matches in the first round! This was very important considering the controversies surrounding a few teams just before the start of the tournament which raised serious questions as to whether the number of teams would be 8 or 10. So, my guess is the IPL council would have given instructions to come up with a format which would not demand major changes even if the number of teams changes. And what a splendid work these guys have done. Probably when I delve into the details that you would realize how this kind of a schedule, team distribution and pseudo team grouping is so different from the other tournaments that we commonly encounter.

Consider this: Till IPL 3, there were 8 teams and each team played 2 matches against every other team, which makes 7X2=14 matches per team. Out of the 2 matches played between a pair of teams one each would be played in the home ground of each team. In the new format, there are 10 teams. Each team plays 5 teams twice, and the other 4 teams once. Out of the matches against the 5 teams, one match each would be played in the home ground of each team. Out of the 4 teams with whom only one match would be played, 2 would be played at home and two matches away.

Now the catch is this. How have the teams with whom 2 matches should be played and with whom 1 match would be played been decided after all. The easiest guess would be, they might have formed 2 groups of 5 teams each, and each team would play the 5 teams of the other group twice and would play the 4 remaining teams within its own group once, which would account for the 14 matches per team. However this would mean that if Punjab and Rajasthan are in the same group then the 5 teams with whom they play 2 matches each should be the same for both Punjab and Rajasthan. However careful analysis of the schedule shows that no two teams have the same set of 5 teams with whom they are going to play 2 matches each.

I tried searching for a pattern, but everywhere only the schedule has been provided, along with the venues. Nowhere has the logic or behind Mumbai playing 2 matches against Pune and only one match against Kolkata been discussed. In fact I could not find a place where I could even find as to which are the teams with which Mumbai is going to play two matches and which are the ones against whom it would play one match.

In order to solve this question, I prepared the schedule in a chart form as shown below:

In this chart, each team’s name comes as a horizontal row as well as a column. The values in the cell are the dates on which the matches would be played and the row name is the host team while the column name for that cell is the guest team. So, for example, in the cell with the row corresponding to Kochi and the column corresponding to Chennai, the value is 18-Apr. So, Kochi plays Chennai on 18-Apr in Kochi. Whereas in the row corresponding to Chennai and the column for Kochi, the value is 18-Mar. So Kochi and Chennai again play each other, but this time in Chennai. So, the venue is governed by name of the team mentioned in the row. From this chart we can easily find the teams which play each other once and those which play each other twice.

From this chart, I found that the 10 teams can still be divided in groups of two, but some more complex logic governs the teams which would play each other twice and the once who play each other once, and also the venue at which they would play these matches. The teams are grouped as follows:

Now, the pattern is this: Each team plays all other teams falling in its row or column twice, and will play all others only once. So, Deccan chargers will play all teams in its column[Group 1](i.e. Delhi, Punjab, Mumbai and Pune) twice and also Kolkata twice(as it falls in its row), and would play the rest 4 teams(Kochi, Bangalore, Rajasthan and Chennai) only once. Out of these, it will play Bangalore and Rajasthan(the first two teams falling below its row) in its Home ground, i.e. Hyderabad, and the other two teams(Chennai and Kochi) away, i.e. in Chennai and Kochi respectively.

Similarly Royal Challengers Bangalore will play Kochi, Kolkata, Rajasthan, Chennai and Punjab twice (one match each at home and away) and would play the other four teams only once. Thus it would play Mumbai and Pune away i.e. in Mumbai and Pune(Navi Mumbai) respectively while it would play Delhi and Deccan at Home i.e. in Bangalore. I would suggest you tally this with the actual IPL Schedule for yourself rather than believing what I have just written...

If you have still not stopped reading yet, there’s still more to the uniqueness of the tournament when you ascend yourself to the next round. The next round has four matches: Qualifier 1, Eliminator, Qualifier 2 and the Final. At the end of the first Round, the top four teams out of the 10 would advance to Round 2. On the basis of their standings, the 1st and 2nd teams would play Qualifier 1, whose winner would assure himself a berth in the finals. The 3rd and 4th teams would play Eliminator, whose loser will be out of the tournament. Now, the loser of Qualifier 1 (Team 1 or 2) would play the winner of the Eliminator(Team 3 or 4) in the Qualifier 2. The winner of this game would be the other team playing the final. The beauty of this pattern is that, unlike the Semifinals of other Tournaments where no team gets any advantage on the basis of its standings in Round 1, here, the 1st and 2nd teams have an advantage that they get 2 matches to play out of which even if they win one match, they are into the Finals, whereas the 3rd and 4th teams need to win both the matches in order to play the finals. Thus, in Qualifier 1, whichever team wins(Team 1 or 2), it is assured of a berth in the Fiinals. But even the team which loses Qualifier 1, has another chance to qualify for the finals by winning Qualifier 2. Now, Teams 3 and 4 play Eliminator, and whichever loses this is out for sure, but even the team which wins has to play another match(Qualifier 2) and win it in order to secure a berth for the finals. Confusing..I know…but the pattern is definitely going to be interesting!!