IPL 2018: Three teams which might not qualify for the Playoffs

It's been two weeks into the Indian Premier League and we have witnessed some pulsating action already.

From KL Rahul's fastest IPL fifty (50 off 14 balls) to Rashid Khan's bowling 18 dot balls in a 4-over spell, the IPL has unleashed some memorable moments thus far. As we enter the third week of the tournament, most of the teams have played 4-matches, giving us a sneak into their team combinations and overall strength and weaknesses of their squads.

That said, in this blog today we will analyze the aforementioned facts and try to list down three teams that won't qualify for the IPL 2018 Playoffs.

Here's my analysis:

#3 Delhi Daredevils

So much was expected of Delhi Daredevils to finally shed their tag of perennial underachievers, especially with Gautam Gambhir and Ricky Ponting at the helm.

Delhi have played 4 matches so far, having lost three of them. In my view, there are two problems that have plagued the Delhi side, which is something that might derail their charge in the run-up to the IPL playoffs. Firstly, apart from Gautam Gambhir, Delhi has too fragile a top and middle-order in Jason Roy, Glenn Maxwell, and Rishabh Pant, all who play a similar one-dimensional brand of hit-and-a-miss cricket. With Gambhir and Iyer not in the best of forms, the batting looks too thin, evident from their 71 run loss against Kolkata Knight Riders.

The second and most critical factor is their bowling. While veteran leggie Amit Mishra was benched after KL Rahul took him to the cleaners in the first match, his replacement Shahbaz Nadeem has gone in excess of 10-runs per over.

While Tewatia has been the lone shining light in the spinning department, their fast bowling department is too dependent on Kiwi Trent Boult. The likes of Mohammed Shami, Chris Morris, and Dan Christian have all been ordinary with the ball, and it might prove to be the Achilles heel for Delhi in the long-run.