Karthikeya criticizes the in-progress IPL Points Chart:
If it is the purpose of a chart to tell us how the teams are doing at any given point in a league, then how can a team with 10 points in 7 games be doing worse than a team with 10 points in 8 games as the IPL’s current charts show?
As some people in the comments have pointed out, this convention is used in many leagues across the world. But that is not necessarily a good justification. If the system is bad, then it should be changed. However, I do think that the way this method is superior to the alternative method of ranking the teams by points and then by reverse order of games played. Let me illustrate with an example. Take 2 teams, Chennai and Punjab
Chennai: 8 matches played, 8 points, NRR 1.232
Punjab: 7 matches played, 8 points, NRR 0.500
This is the order that Karthikeya has problems with. He wants Punjab to be ranked above Chennai because Punjab cannot “be doing worse” than a team that has the same number of points, but played more games. Punjab has a game in hand and they should be rewarded for scoring more points per game played.
The fallacy here is that Punjab has, in fact, not done better than Chennai. It has won exactly the same number of matches as Chennai and those matches have not been won with as much ease as Chennai. Punjab has a game in hand, but it has not earned those points yet and could very well lose the next game. We should not be rewarding Punjab for something it has not yet done.
Here is what we happens in each method based on the next game that Punjab plays:
| Result | NRR Method | Games Left Method |
|---|---|---|
| Punjab Wins | Punjab Goes Ahead | No Change |
| Punjab Ties | Punjab Goes Ahead | No Change |
| Punjab Loses | No Change | Punjab Falls Behind* |
I put a * for the last item because if Chennai was at 8 points from 9 matches, then there would not be any change. Even though that is not the example.
In any case, the concept with the NRR Method is that you get punished for actual poor performance in the games you played and rewarded for improving upon them. In the Games Left Method, you get rewarded for possible better performance in the future and punished for not meeting the expectations. So ultimately, it depends on your philosophy of looking at things.


