As it has been announced that IPL 2020 will take place in UAE, let’s talk about IPL 2014 season which was also partially organized in UAE.
Because of the general elections in India in 2014, not enough security personnel were available for the IPL games as require and hence, the initial part of the tournament was shifted to UAE.
Here are the 4 teams which qualified for the play-offs when IPL happened last time in UAE –
# 1 Kings XI Punjab
Kings XI Punjab played 5 games in UAE in IPL 2014 and they ended up winning all 5 of them. Glenn Maxwell was in outstanding form with the bat in that tournament and his batting was one of the main reasons why Punjab stream-rolled over every team that they played against in UAE.
KXIP, thereafter, kept the momentum after returning to India as well and qualified for the playoffs with 11 wins in 14 games.
#2 Kolkata Knight Riders
Kolkata Knight Riders were actually not in a great position in the points table when they returned to India from UAE. Out of the 5 games that they played in UAE, they won just 2.
However, after their return to India, KKR showed amazing consistency as they won 7 out of their remaining 9 games to make it to top 4 with 18 points. KKR eventually went on to win the title as well.
#3 Chennai Super Kings
Chennai Super Kings were the second most consistent team in the UAE leg of IPL 2014. After losing their first game in the tournament against KXIP, they won the next four and returned to India with 12 points in their kitty.
The men in yellow needed 12 more points from their remaining 9 games to make it to the playoffs and they achieved that easily.
#4 Mumbai Indians
Mumbai Indians’ qualification to the IPL playoffs in 2014 was extraordinary as they had lost all their 5 games in UAE and were written off by many experts when the teams made their way to India for the second leg of the tournament.
However, Mumbai turned it around in the India leg of the tournament and managed to finish at the 4th position in the points table with 14 points in 14 games.
