Stinging in the rain

This is for those who really want to know what happened at the Ferozeshah Kotla on Thursday night: At 8.50 pm...

This is for those who really want to know what happened at the Ferozeshah Kotla on Thursday night: At 8.50 pm, the covers came off for the first time. Two minutes later, they were back on after another sharp shower. At 9.25 pm, Sourav Ganguly walked on to the field barefoot and the crowd went crazy. At 9.35 pm, Aussie mates David Hussey and Brett Geeves kicked a rugby ball around. And at 10 pm, the match between the Delhi Daredevils and the Kolkata Knight Riders was officially called off.

The only relevant piece of action the Kotla faithful witnessed involved three Super-Soppers wading through puddles with an air of resignation. The persistent rains that have put a smile on faces in Delhi over the last few days pooped the party a surprisingly large smattering of people in the stands were planning.

It also unceremoniously dumped the Kolkata Knight Riders out of the race to the semi-finals, and left the Delhi Daredevils in a precarious position themselves.

Points to ponder

Kolkata, who started off so brightly with Brendon McCullum8217;s pyrotechnics in Bangalore, are stuck on 11 points with one match to play. Even if they win that, they will not have enough to make it to the final four.

Delhi, another strong starter, have 13 now with the Mumbai Indians coming in two days. Even if they win that game, they will have to hope other results 8212; involving Mumbai and Chennai 8212; go their way to sneak into the semis.

The wash-out also nudged the Kings XI Punjab team, on 16 points, into the last four. With Rajasthan Royals sitting pretty at the top of the table, three teams 8212; Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi, for those who lost count 8212; are now fighting it out for the two remaining spots.

Come to think of it, this was a fairly eventful day in the Indian Premier League considering not a single ball was bowled.

What if8230;

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While the race to the semi-finals got some clarity on this soggy day, Kolkata were left clutching at a series of what-ifs that disrupted their campaign.

Yes, their top-order looks shaky even on paper, but what if you replace Aakash Chopra with Chris Gayle, who watched injured from the dugout? Their strength lay in their fast bowling attack right from the start, but how much more devastating could they have been had Shoaib Akhtar been available from Day One? What if Ashok Dinda had held on to that catch against Mumbai two balls before rain stopped play? At 55 for no loss, Mumbai won the game by the Duckworth-Lewis method; at 55 for one, they would have lost.

Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong for the Knight Riders. Being washed away by rains in the middle of a Delhi summer fits the pattern perfectly.