Until the final day of the league stage of Indian Premier League (IPL), there was a tie between two teams viz Rising Pune Supergiant and Kings XI Punjab for that one spot in the top four.
The contest between the two sides was expected to be a crunch game, as everyone expected Punjab to put in efforts so to emulate their performance of past two games but the way they performed in Sunday’s game, it was a big disappointment, as they surrendered in front of Pune which led to Steven Smith side gaining an easy win over them to book a seat in the first qualifier against Mumbai Indians, by the virtue of ending the league stage at the second position.
Now the suspense is over and the four teams in the playoffs are Mumbai Indians, Rising Pune Supergiant, Kolkata Knight Riders, and Sunrisers Hyderabad.
The last week of the IPL is dedicated to the playoffs and four teams will battle it out in these seven days with their eyes on the coveted IPL trophy.
Here is how the story will unfold in the last week of the tournament –
May 16 – Qualifier 1: Mumbai Indians vs Rising Pune Supergiant at Wankhede Stadium (Mumbai)
The top placed team and the second team on the points table will face each other in the first qualifier of the season on May 16. The match will be played at the home ground of Mumbai Indians which will be a bit of advantage for them, as history suggests that they have a good record when they play at their fortress.
Mumbai will look to dominate Pune so as to qualify for the finals and grab the trophy for the third time.
On the other side, Pune has seen many twists and turns this season. Once it seemed like the team has continued on the same note where they left, as after winning the first game, they lost their next three fixtures but soon the tide turned for them and now they find themselves in the top two.
The winner of this game will become the first team to fix a place in the final to be played in Hyderabad at the home ground of defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad.
May 17 – Eliminator: Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Kolkata Knight Riders at M. Chinnaswamy stadium (Bengaluru)
The third-placed side Sunrisers Hyderabad and the fourth place side Kolkata knight riders will face each other at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. The winner of the game will get a ticket to the next qualifier against either Mumbai Indians or Rising Pune Supergiant.
There is no room for any error, as the team losing the game will straight away find itself out of the race to the finals. A win here would keep the team alive in the race but they to face the winner of Qualifier 1 in order to fulfil their dream of playing the final.
May 19 – Qualifier two at M. Chinnaswamy stadium (Bengaluru)
The loser of the first qualifier and the winner of the eliminator will meet each other in the second qualifier on May 19 with a hope of making a place in the finals. The team winning the game will face the winner of Qualifier one in the finals on May 21.
May 21 – Final at Rajiv Gandhi International stadium in Hyderabad
On a Super Sunday in the 60th and the final game of the season, the winner of qualifier one and qualifier two will meet each other. There are 75 percent chances of a team winning the cup again, as barring Pune, all the other three sides have won the trophy at least once. So, there are high chances of the cup going in hands of a captain where it has been before, whereas, Pune will look to get their hands on the cup for the first time in probably their last season.