The knockout phase of the 2015 Pepsi Indian Premier League (IPL) begins on Tuesday at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai with a match between the top two sides in the regular season table, Chennai Super Kings who finished at the top of the pile, and Mumbai whose sensational late season form propelled them into second position.
The format of the IPL, means that the winners of Tuesday’s contest will progress directly to the final at Eden Gardens, Kolkata next Sunday. Whereas the losers will get a second chance to qualify for the final, by playing the winners of the Eliminator, which takes place on Wednesday at Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune, between the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Rajasthan Royals.
Mumbai go into Wednesday’s match as the form team in the tournament, with seven wins from their last eight matches. Coming on the back of one win from the first six matches that they played in this season’s competition, they had to produce that sort of form in order to make it through to the knockout stages.
Going into the last match of the whole qualifying process on Sunday against the Sunrisers Hyderabad, Mumbai required victory to pip their opponents for the last place in the final four.
However, not only did they win, but they crushed the Sunrisers to such an extent that they were able to leapfrog over the Royal Challengers, and into the vital second spot on the table.
Chennai had clinched their place in the Qualifier on Saturday, when they defeated bottom of the table Kings XI Punjab. Their place in the final four was already assured, their final position was just unsure going into the last game, having stumbled over the second half of the season, losing four of the last seven matches they played.
The two regular season matches between the two teams, were shared one a piece, with the away side winning on each occasion.