IPL 2018 reaches climax: An overview of final 5 league matches

5. Kings XI Punjab vs Chennai Super Kings  in Pune on May 20 (2nd game of the day)

MS Dhoni will be eager to avenge the 4-run loss against KXIP in Mohali on April 14 for it was him who was left stranded at the wicket, something unusual for the master of this format. CSK’s advantage is that they can see the result of the SRH-KKR game a day earlier to decide their final game’s strategy.

Though it doesn’t make much of a difference if a team finishes either first or second for in either case, they will get the chance of playing the second qualifier in case they lose the first, but Dhoni’s men in yellow will still be striving for that first slot in the tournament in which they are playing again after two years.

For Punjab, however, it has been a downhill slide from the middle phase. Till about the sixth game, Ravichandran Ashwin’s side was among the top two teams (the other being CSK) but then they lost six of their next seven games and are languishing at No. 7 with 12 points in 13 games with the worst NRR of -0.490 (even DD’s NRR is -0.478). Punjab have made the last four stage only twice in 10 attempts and they would have to win really, really big against a strong CSK if they fancy their third qualification for the next round.

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