The two-month long Indian Premier League 2024 season is finally approaching its culmination, after the conclusion of the league phase on Sunday, with the top four teams gearing up for the final hurrah. The last week of the league stage was dominated by rain across different parts of the country, making the race to the playoffs complex for the hopeful sides with an outside chance.

While two consecutive washouts saw Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) finish as the top 2 teams, with 20 and 17 points, respectively, Rajasthan Royals (RR) bore the brunt with four back-to-back losses while rain in their last home game in Guwahati denied them the ticket to Qualifier 1. The Sanju Samson-led outfit eventually ended third on the points table and will run into a red-hot Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the Eliminator.

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The BCCI picked Ahmedabad and Chennai as the two venues to host IPL 2024 playoffs, with the Narendra Modi Stadium in Gujarat all decked up to conduct the Qualifier 1 and the Eliminator, and the MA Chidambaram Stadium hosting the second qualifier and the May 26 grand final.

As the action shifts to Ahmedabad, the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), with less than 48 hours turn-around time from far Northeast to the western part of the country, will be locking horns against a formidable SRH in the first qualifier on Tuesday. The winner of this electrifying clash will advance to the final while the losing side will compete for one last time in Qualifier 2, later this week.

For two-time IPL champions KKR, this will be their seventh appearance in the playoffs, but first under skipper Shreyas Iyer, who will keenly look forward to the challenge, especially after losing his annual central contract from the national cricket board, and prove his credentials.

It’s been a season to cherish for KKR with 9 wins, 3 losses and a top finish, and much of the credit for the side’s transformation can be attributed to the team mentor Gautam Gambhir, who returned to the franchise ahead of the season. In fact, it was under Gambhir’s leadership as captain, when the side won their two titles back in 2012 and 2014, and no wonder why he could be one of the frontrunners for the India head coach’s job in the near future.

Heading into the first qualifier, the KKR management will have an added responsibility to fill in the huge void left by their second-highest run-scorer and wicket keeper Phil Salt (435 runs) leaving the side for national duties with England ahead of the T20 World Cup.

KKR’s success in the league phase has largely been built on the staggering opening partnerships provided by Salt and his partner Sunil Narine (461), backed up well by a potent middle-order even though skipper Iyer (287) has not had a major impact yet.

While the washed out contest against Rajasthan Royals robbed KKR of an opportunity to give replacement Rahmanullah Gurbaz a go at the top with Narine, something that would have settled a few concerns certainly, KKR will be hoping that their new combo continues the same approach in their pursuit for a third title.

On the bowling front, KKR have been the third-most wicket-taking team of IPL 2024. The season witnessed the revival of Varun Chakravarthy’s lost mystery, being the team’s leading wicket-taker this season with 18 scalps. He has been very well backed by Harshit Rana (16 wickets), Andre Russell (15), Narine (15) and the most expensive, Mitchell Starc (12).

On the other hand, 2016 IPL champions Sunrisers Hyderabad are gunning for their second title under an Australian. In 2016, David Warner led the side to the title, and in 2024, the Orange Army is banking on the inspiring leadership of Pat Cummins after making the playoffs for the first time in three seasons.

Like their rivals, the Hyderabad franchise has banked on a all-or-nothing batting approach, mainly revolving around the explosive opening pair of Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma, with the likes of Heinrich Klaasen, Aiden Markram, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Abdul Samad tasked with the rebuilding job during chases. The inconsistencies of Rahul Tripathi, Samad and Mayank Agarwal seem to be a concern going into the business end of the tournament but the SRH would hope that their opening pair comes good.

In bowling, the Sunrisers are third-last on the list of most wickets (68) taken by a team this season. They used as many as 20 bowling resources this season and surprisingly, just three of them could pick wickets in double digits. Left-arm seamer T Natarajan stands atop with 17 scalps, followed by captain Cummins (15) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (11). Notably, their spin unit hasn’t clicked.

Going by recent stats, the Narendra Modi Stadium has had only two scores of 200 or above in 12 innings, which means the bowlers could also have their say irrespective of being batting powerhouses. In their only meet earlier this season back in late March, KKR had pipped SRH by four runs in a high-scoring game, and it will thus be interesting to see whether SRH can avenge the loss and make the final.