Mumbai and Punjab set to battle it out for a spot in the final with the winner facing Royal Challengers Bengaluru on June 3.
Mumbai and Punjab meet in another crunch game on Sunday to identify the other finalist.
Five-time champions against a team vying for its first championship. Shreyas Iyer versus Hardik Pandya. Arshdeep Singh vs. Jasprit Bumrah. Suryakumar versus Josh Inglis. Trent Boult vs Kyle Jamieson. It looks like it will be a delicious knockout.
The two teams’ journeys to Qualifier 2 have been rather different. With only a single victory in five games, MI was in second place by the middle of April. However, they proceeded to do MI things in order to defeat Gujarat Titans (GT) on Friday and advance to the playoffs. Prior to a nasty shock in Qualifier 1 versus RCB in New Chandigarh, PBKS was the league phase’s best team, leading the points table.
Another chance to compete in the final is the prize for placing in the top two. After defeating MI in Jaipur earlier this week, PBKS was entitled to that prize. A first-time IPL champion will be assured with another victory over MI on Sunday.
Four uncapped Indian batsmen in the top seven of an IPL squad is quite unusual, but Ricky Ponting and Iyer have unleashed their potential and turned PBKS into a strong batting lineup that has scored 200 runs in seven of their 15 innings.
MI, on the other hand, has only one uncapped player in their top seven and their batting is centred around battle-hardened internationals. On his franchise debut, Jonny Bairstow moved into the opening spot with ease following the departure of Ryan Rickelton. His opening salvo set the stage for Friday’s 200-plus total. Despite Suryakumar Yadav and Pandya’s impressive middle-order performances, Bumrah remains their most potent differentiator, converting 20-over innings into 16.
Nothing could stop Bumrah from yorking Washington Sundar in the Eliminator, even if MI was missing Deepak Chahar due to a hamstring ache and was even hampered by dew. On Sunday, will PBKS be able to stop him?