Shreyas Iyer's inspiring leadership will face its toughest test yet when Punjab Kings host an equally upbeat Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Qualifier 1 of the Indian Premier League here on Thursday.
Having earned the cushion of a top-two finish, one can expect both teams to have a no holds barred approach knowing they will get another shot at reaching the final even if they come up short on the opening night of the play-offs.
Punjab Kings find themselves in unfamiliar territory having made the play-offs for the first time since 2014 but they are not carrying the baggage of the past in the Iyer-Ricky Ponting (head coach) era.
RCB, on the other hand, are way too familiar with heartbreaks of the knock-out stages and like every season, are hoping to end their title drought. In their own words, the job is only half done for both title contenders.
The Iyer-Ponting partnership has resulted in a stellar turnaround for Punjab Kings, who have finally cracked the consistency code after more than a decade of under-performance.
The combination has managed to get the best out of the players making them a well-oiled unit.
The opening duo of Prabhsimran Singh and rookie Priyansh Arya has laid the platform for the likes of Iyer and Josh Inglis to build.
Finisher Shashank Singh continues to improve his game with each passing season and more recently, Australian import Marcus Stoinis finding his range with the bat makes the batting look more formidable.
The concerns lie in the bowling department, especially after the departure of South African Marco Jansen, who has returned home for national duty.
Jansen bowled the crucial overs both in the powerplay and death and the team will certainly miss him on Thursday night.
Kyle Jamieson showed promise in his debut for the franchise but will need to bowl better upfront to make an impact. Batting all-rounder Azmatullah Omarzai could take Jansen's spot.
Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, who missed the last two games due to a finger injury, is expected to return for the big game and bowl alongside the ever accurate Harpreet Brar.
Arshdeep Singh has been the standout pacer for his longtime franchise, delivering in all phases of the game.
RCB too had injury concerns going into the business end of the tournament but they have been allayed to a good extent.
Pacer Josh Hazlewood is expected to regain full fitness and Tim David too would be available for selection, lending more balance to the side.
RCB have been branded as a top heavy outfit for years but that appears to be changing with the likes of Jitesh Sharma realising their potential in the middle-order. Jitesh played the best innings of his IPL career on Tuesday night and his confidence will be sky high going into the play-offs.
It would be important from the team's point of view that Phil Salt is at his destructive best in the powerplay and Virat Kohli keeps batting like he has been through the season, racking up fifties with ridiculous ease.
RCB will take positives out of their win over Punjab Kings at this venue in the league stage. The pitch has been rather unpredictable with 200 scored only once in the first innings of the four games played here.
But Punjab Kings will have the belief of winning from the brink at their home ground having defended 111 against KKR last month.
The stakes will be high but both teams will treat the game as a stepping stone to their ultimate goal.
Squads:
Punjab Kings: Nehal Wadhera, Harnoor Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Musheer Khan, Pyla Avinash, Prabhsimran Singh, Vishnu Vinod, Josh Inglis, Marcus Stoinis, Praveen Dubey, Priyansh Arya, Azmatullah Omarzai, Aaron Hardie, Harpreet Brar, Suryansh Shedge, Shashank Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Xavier Bartlett, Kuldeep Sen, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Yash Thakur, Mitchell Owen, Kyle Jamieson.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar (c), Swastik Chikara, Jitesh Sharma, Philip Salt, Manoj Bhandage, Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Liam Livingstone, Romario Shepherd, Jacob Bethell, Swapnil Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Nuwan Thushara, Yash Dayal, Rasikh Dar Salam, Suyash Sharma, Mohit Rathee, Abhinandan Singh, Mayank Agarawal, Blessing Muzarabani, Tim Seifert.
Match starts 7.30 PM.
