Diwali didn’t bring happiness to the Champions League organisers as the remaining home teams in the fray — Bangalore Royal Challengers and Delhi Daredevils — made their exit from the tournament. The third Indian team in the tournament, the Deccan Chargers, had failed to even make it to the Super 8 stage.

Though the Royal Challengers won their last Super 8 match against Delhi on Saturday, they had crashed out even before the toss. Cape Cobras’ win over Victoria Bushrangers earlier in the day had shut the doors for both sides and ensured that the inaugural Champions League trophy would be flying out of India.

After the unceremonious exits, attempts to figure out what went wrong have already begun. The most popular player in Bangalore after three swashbuckling innings, Ross Taylor — who scored 65 off 38 balls in his side’s eight-wicket win on Saturday — said he would go home a disappointed man. Carrying a bundle of memories of crowds cheering themselves hoarse shouting his name, the Kiwi explained that the format of the tournament made unpredictability part of the game.

Unpredictable format

“No one can do anything. We lost some close matches, and in T20, no one knows what will happen next,” he said.

With a star-studded line up, Delhi Daredevils were considered title contenders but continued to struggle. Virender Sehwag stepping down as captain a month back brought Gautam Gambhir to the hot seat but it didn’t bring any luck for the team.

Gambhir echoed Taylor’s comments about the nature of the game, adding that the team missed New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori and things could have been different if he was present.

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