IPL Seventh Season 2014: First Qualifier Match Today Between Punjab and Kolkata-Preview

First qualifier match in IPL 7 will be played between Kings XI Punjab and Kolkata Knight Riders today. This is the second crucial stage in the tourney. Punjab reached to this stage being on the top of the points table. Kolkata won only two matches in the first seven matches but at the later stage, it won seven consecutive matches to reach play-off stage.

Kolkata: Punjab is looking strong among the two teams but it can be expected that there will be interesting fight between the two teams. But rain is likely to play spoil sport.

Punjab has a run rate of 9.03 in league matches in this tourney. Maxwell is in great form. Other batsmen are also playing well and the batting line-up is very strong. Punjab did not loss a single match when it is chasing the target.

At the same time Kolkata team cannot be taken easily. While batting is the strong point of Punjab, bowling is the strength of Kolkata team. Kolkata bowlers have the best economy rate in this tourney. It has bowlers such as Narien, Morkel and Umesh and the economy rate in this tourney was only 7.63 runs. Apart from this, Uthappa and Gambhir are giving good starts to the team innings. Yousuf Pathan came back to his original form which is good news for the team and this also increased the confidence.

Maxwell and Sandeep Sharma are not in good for since few matches and this is a negative point for the Punjab team. Maxwell scored only 15 and 14 runs in both the matches played against Kolkata.

Heavy rainfall since Sunday in Kolkata caused both the teams to skin their practice session. The Eden gardens ground is under covers. Meteorological department predicted heavy rains for the next two days. In case the match is cancelled due to rain, Wednesday is the reserve day for the match. It the match could not be played on that day also, as per the rules of the tourney, Punjab will enter final as it has better run rate.

The team that wins in the qualifier 1 match will enter final. The team that loses will have another chance to reach the final. It will play the second qualifier match on May 30 for final berth with the winner of eliminator match that will be played on May 28 between Chennai and Mumbai.