Chappell reclaims the throne

The see-saw battle at the top continues. After losing the top spot to Sambit Bal for a day, Ian Chappell has reclaimed it after the last day of round-robin matches.

Ian and Sambit both played it safe, going in for similar trumps for the double header. While AB de Villiers (42) and Adam Gilchrist (60) didn't burn up the charts with their performances, it was the performance of the other players not common to both sides who made the difference. While Rajat Bhatia and Jacques Kallis fetched Sambit just 32 points, Ian had Andrew Symonds (65) and Virat Kohli (38), and had persisted with Sachin Tendulkar (56); the three accumulated 159 between them, and helped edge Ian into the lead. He is now ahead of Sambit by 73 points.

Meanwhile Sanjay Manjrekar, who had Virender Sehwag as trump for the first game, earned 288 points from him, as Sehwag finally struck form. He is at No. 3 with 8705, and David Lloyd brings up the rear with 6847.

As of now, Ian and Sambit have largely common picks (and a common trump) for the first-semi final between Deccan Chargers and Delhi Daredevils. It will be interesting to see if either of them punts, changing his trump before the game starts. Watch this space for more.