The Indian Premier League is entering the half-stage and not surprisingly the fans and cricket pundits are busy with the permutation and combination over who would progress and who would lose out the place of playoffs.
As of now, Chennai Super Kings is sitting at the top of the points table, having managed five wins in seven games. On the other hand, defending champions, Delhi Daredevils is languishing at the bottom after registering two wins in seven games.
On the same lines, the cricketing fraternity is also busy speculating who would bag the Orange Cap and Purple Cap.
Well, scientific astrologist, Greenstone Lobo has made some predictions ahead of the second half of the season. Lobo has predicted that Delhi Daredevils would fail to make it to the playoffs.
The Daredevils, currently lying at the bottom, have started brightly under their new skipper Shreyas Iyer. However, Lobo has predicted that Iyer’s age will stop Daredevils from making it to the last four.
“Shreyas Iyer has started off in a blazing fashion after replacing Gautam Gambhir as the skipper of the Delhi Daredevils. He has a good horoscope too. But his age will prevent his team from qualifying for the playoffs. The problem has still not been resolved for Delhi in this IPL, but they definitely would be strong contenders for future IPLs with Shreyas being the skipper,” he wrote for Sportskeeda.
On the other hand, he said that CSK could make it to the playoffs. However, he insisted that the two-time IPL champions’ comeback season won’t end on a fairytale note.
Interestingly, he predicted that CSK could win the title if MS Dhoni gets injured and Dwayne Bravo leads the team.
“The collective strength of the individual star players has taken Chennai Super Kings to a good position. They will continue to soar and may even reach the playoffs. But they will surely not win the tournament as Dhoni, and Stephen Fleming have won too many before and have exhausted their karmic quota for winning such huge tournaments. CSK’s only chance is if Dhoni gets injured and Dwayne Bravo leads them in the playoffs,” he said.
As far as Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders are concerned, Lobo said neither of the two teams could win the title.
“Rajasthan Royals’ Ajinkya Rahane doesn’t have a horoscope good enough to win a tournament of this magnitude. Royals may find it difficult to make it to the playoffs. The absence of their regular skipper Steven Smith would definitely impact them further,” he said.
“Though Dinesh Karthik has a good enough horoscope, Kolkata Knight Riders cannot win this time with a lop-sided squad. They have some players who have won the tournament already and some players who are too young to win so soon. So KKR would lose out too, even if they qualify for the playoffs,” he added.
He further said that Sunrisers Hyderabad has a good chance of going all the way. The reason behind the same is that Kane Williamson is not the youngest captain in the league and is also leading a balanced squad.
“Shreyas Iyer’s captaincy elevation has changed equations for another team – Sunrisers Hyderabad! As Kane Williamson is no longer the youngest captain of the tournament, his chances to win the event have suddenly brightened. Make no mistake about it, SRH are the team to beat in this tournament with a strong astrologically balanced squad and coach,” he said.
“SRH will continue to choke teams with their impeccable bowling attack and inventive captaincy. Don’t be surprised if SRH go all the way in the tournament,” Lobo added.
Lobo has delivered some encouraging words for the Virat Kohli led Royal Challengers Bangalore.
RCB is at seventh on the table after winning just two out of six games. However, Lobo said that skipper Virat Kohli’s superlative horoscope could lead the team to its maiden title.
According to him, RCB can still dream of qualifying for the playoffs and even winning the tournament due to the superlative horoscope of Virat Kohli. The mistake that RCB have made is that they have not played their astrologically best XI. They have great depth in the squad, and if they get the combination right, they can still win the competition.
Also, King XI Punjab continues to be another strong astrological favourite to win the tournament due to the collective strength of captain Ravichandran Ashwin, the team and the coach.
