Preview: Qualifier 2 29-05-2014

After dominating the seventh edition of IPL, Chennai Super Kings and Kings XI Punjab would have expected to fight it out for the title in the final. On the contrary now one team has to face the truth of elimination in the Qualifier 2 to be played at the Wankhede Stadium.

Punjab would not have expected to be in such a situation but Chennai must be confident after their seven-wicket win over Mumbai Indians in the Eliminator match on Wednesday.

But in the head-to-head calculation, Punjab are on top this season by beating Chennai convincingly twice. Moreover, Punjab were the only opposition that troubled them the most and the prime tormentor being Glenn Maxwell - who with his 90-plus knocks in Abu Dhabi and Cuttack flattened Chennai.

Buoyed by their convincing seven-wicket win over Mumbai, Chennai will take on Punjab in their second IPL knockout game at the Wankhede Stadium.

But the penultimate match of the season provides Chennai with an excellent opportunity to avenge their two defeats and set up the summit clash on June 1 against Kolkata Knight Riders.

Chennai will come hard at Punjab as they aim to enter the final for the sixth time, but prior to that they have to worry about Maxwell who took apart their bowling attack, especially R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja facing the maximum brunt.

Maxwell is presently the third highest run-getter in this season with 539 runs blasted 43-ball 95 in Abu Dhabi to help Punjab chase down Chennai’s massive target of 206. Then in the Indian leg at Cuttack, he scored a 35-ball 90 to power Punjab to a dominating total of 231 batting first.

But in the Qualifier 1 against KKR at the Eden Gardens, Punjab looked vulnerable and Chennai will certainly look to exploit their weak points on Friday. Punjab would not like to spoil their brilliant run in the tournament and the onus now would be on the players to pull up their socks.

Chennai on Wednesday persisted with Dwayne Smith and Faf du Plessis opening combination and it would be quite unlikely from them to tamper in order to accommodate Brendon McCullum.

The move did work out in the Eliminator as both put up a fifty-run stand to give Chennai a solid start in the chase of 174. The middle-order also stood up to the occasion as Suresh Raina (54* off 33) and David Hussey (40* off 29) stitched together a 89-run stand for the fourth wicket to take Chennai through.

On Friday, Chennai need to bring up a similar performance in order to ruin Punjab’s dream-run in IPL 7. The match will be a litmus test for the bowlers, especially Mohit Sharma, Jadeja and Ashwin as Chennai would like them to keep Maxwell, Virender Sehwag, David Miller and Manan Vohra in check.

The Qualifier 2 gives Punjab a second and final chance to redeem their defeat against Kolkata where their star-studded batting line-up flopped to chase down a modest target of 164.

Punjab have failed to put up a lethal bowling attack and that could be blamed to Mitchell Johnson’s (14 wickets) inconsistent form with the major workload being shared by Sandeep Sharma and left-arm spinner Akshar Patel. They might be tempted to bring back the experienced L Balaji for the crucial game and retain legspinner Karanveer Singh.

Moreover, the word failure won’t be an excuse for both the teams fighting it out for the place in the final after a brilliant campaign in the seventh season.