In-form Kolkata Knight Riders will be eager to make the most of their home advantage when they lock horns with struggling Sunrisers Hyderabad in the second Qualifier in Kolkata on Friday.
After beating each other once this season, the winners from Friday's clash will face MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings in the Final on May 27.
Following an inconsistent season, Kolkata got their act together at the right time of the season, winning four matches on the trot. Whereas, Hyderabad are enduring their worst spell of the campaign, losing their last four matches on the bounce.
After enjoying a dream first half of the campaign, SRH was the maiden team to qualify for the play-offs, finishing at top of the table. After the qualification was confirmed, there was a sudden drop in their performance levels. It all started with a defeat against Chennai Super Kings in Pune. They went on to lose to RCB, KKR and CSK again in the first play-off.
The defeat against Chennai last Tuesday will hurt them a lot. At one point, SRH were cruising with CSK struggling at 113/8 inside 18 overs while chasing 140. But Williamson's decision to allow Carlos Brathwaite bowl the 18th over backfired as the West Indian conceded 20 runs in that over, which proved to be the turning point in Chennai's victory.
Still, bowling has been their biggest strength throughout the tournament. The likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddarth Kaul and Sandeep Sharma have been performing consistently. Kaul (19 wickets) is their leading wicket-taker this campaign after impressing at the start as well as the death overs.
Afghan spinner Rashid Khan (18 wickets) has been equally impressive with the ball.
Their problem, however, mainly lies in the batting department. Their over reliance on skipper Kane Williamson, the current Orange Cap holder with 685 runs at 57.05 average, is one of their main reasons for the downfall. When the New Zealand skipper fails to deliver, others have struggled to fill that void.
Shikhar Dhawan (437 runs) has done a reasonably good job to support his captain, but he will be keen to get some runs under his name after being dismissed for a golden duck against CSK in the last match.
Their biggest concern is the struggling middle order. Manish Pandey (284) and Yusuf Pathan (212) have failed to shoulder responsibilities in the middle overs when call upon. Hence, the team is left with no choice but to rely heavily on their top-order batsmen.
They have to step up if they are going to have a deep batting unit against the hosts KKR on Friday.
As far as Kolkata are concerned, they seem to have everything in order.
Dinesh Karthik has been leading them by example this season. After replacing the departed Gautam Gambhir, Karthik has been enjoying the form of his life, averaging 54.44 from 15 matches.
He has been a steady performer in the middle-order, stepping up every time his team needed him. While chasing the targets, he has often helped his side cross the finishing line without much fuss.
Chris lynn, Andre Russell and even Sunil Narine - often plays as an opener - have done their part in the team's revival.
Their spinners have been mighty impressive. Other than Narine, Kuldeep Yadav (16 wickets) and Piyush Chawla (13 wickets) have been sensational. Whereas their pacers Russell and young Prasidh Krishna have looked good.