Cricket fans would surely remember the epic knock played by Adam Gilchrist against the then Delhi Daredevils in the semi-finals of IPL 2009.
He single-handedly took the game away from them and Delhi after having performed exceptionally right through the tournament were left wondering about that one day which took the trophy away from them.
Much deliberation was made post this game and by 2011, the IPL governing council came up with the idea of playoffs rather than having semifinals. This meant there would be 3 knock-out games (eliminator, 2nd qualifier, and final) and 1 qualifier post the completion of the league stage.
This model ensures that teams that finish in the top 2 have 2 shots at playing the final. Let us explain to you how:
Qualifier 1- where the top 2 teams would battle for direct entry to the finals and the losing team would get another shot at redemption through Qualifier 2.
Eliminator- This is the first knock-out game in the tournament, where teams ranked number 3 and 4 fight to gain a place for qualifier 2, while the loser gets eliminated from the tournament.
And the winner of Qualifier 2, eventually goes on to play the winner of Qualifier 1, and thereby we get the champion.
(Interesting trivia: SRH remain the only team to have become champions after having played the eliminator)
Hence, we often see teams fretting overachieving that top 2 spot in the league stage, which provides them with s cushion of Knowing, there is a luxury of another day where they can fight for glory
