IPL 2018 play-offs: All you need to know

NEW DELHI: The league stage of IPL 2018 came to a close on Sunday with Rajasthan Royals becoming the fourth and final team to progress to the play-offs stage of the league’s 11th season, bringing to an end a 56-game streak that saw several franchise script some amazing runs of form.
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Here’s what you can expect from the next five days of must-win T20 action.
Who are the final four?
Second-placed Chennai Super Kings’ five-wicket win over Kings XI Punjab in the league stage’s final match confirmed that Rajasthan Royals became the final team to seal a play-offs berth. Table-toppers Sunrisers Hyderabad and two-time title holders Kolkata Knight Riders are the other teams.
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Who plays who?
The first qualifier match will be played on Tuesday at the Wankhede Stadium between SRH and CSK, followed by the Eliminator between KKR and RR at Eden Gardens a day later. The second Qualifier will also be at Eden Gardens on May 25 and the final at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday May 27.
Who to watch out for?
Sunrisers’ bowling attack has been the most captivating to watch, but of late they’ve dipped somewhat. To take them to the final, the trio of Rashid Khan, Shakib Al Hasan and Siddarth Kaul will have to once again combine to flummox CSK on Tuesday, given that Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been off-colour all season. Kane Williamson has been tremendous and if he pulls of a gem or two, SRH will remain the team to beat.
For CSK, South African fast bowler Lungi Ngidi has pumped himself up for the knockouts with tremendous figures of 4/10 against KXIP, and could just prove the shot of power that the franchise needs to go the distance. Ambati Rayudu and Shane Watson have carried CSK’s batting this season, but the ultimate play-offs performer Suresh Raina just scored a match-winning unbeaten 61 to remind everyone what he’s worth.
From the KKR camp, Dinesh Karthik has been arguably the finisher of IPL 2018 and his ability to close out matches could really be the clincher for his team, who will rely heavily on Sunil Narine, Chris Lynn and Kuldeep Yadav in the play-offs.
Rajasthan Royals are somewhat fortunate to be in the play-offs, and without the departed England wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler, are the weakest of the four teams. They need Sanju Samson, Rahul Tripathi, Ish Sodhi and Shreyas Gopal to have super days to take them beyond Wednesday.
Who will win?
With nine wins each, SRH and CSK are top two sides and Qualifier 1 gets the play-offs going with a bumper fixture. Spurred on by Watson and Rayudu when these two teams last met, CSK chased 180 with eight wickets in hand, and given their history in the play-offs, it is difficult to see them lose on Tuesday.
KKR should overpower Rajasthan again, given that they beat them both times during the league stage. When they met last week, KKR bowled out RR for 142 in 19 overs, and without Buttler the Rajasthan batting lacks oomph.
Prediction: CSK edge SRH to reach the final, KKR beat RR to reach the Eliminator, where KKR just manage to pip SRH to set up a cracking final with CSK. On the biggest day, back the team with more batting depth, which looks like KKR who in Karthik and Andre Russell have two devastating finishers.