Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians are the only two teams that have won against Kings XI Punjab but that is not a bother at all for coach Sanjay Bangar.
Kings XI, who topped the league section of IPL 7, will be up against Kolkata at Eden Gardens in the first qualifier tonight and Bangar is confident that his boys will not be intimidated by the home team's vociferous crowd support.
"In fact, we’re looking forward to it because Eden produces some great cricket because of the crowd and the atmosphere that is created," said Bangar. "It’s good to have that sort of challenge. I just feel that we’ll revel in those challenging conditions.”
Punjab had suffered their biggest loss against Kolkata at Cuttack when Gautam Gambhir and Co. thrashed them by nine wickets.
Bangar insists that result will have no bearing on tonight’s game.
“Past records don’t really indicate anything. The teams that have got to the playoffs have played really good cricket and whichever team plays well on that particular day will definitely have an edge.
“Each team comes out with their own strategies. Even we will try and negate their positives, just as how every team tries to counter their opponent’s strengths.
“The key is to not think too far ahead and try and do the things that we are good at, and also challenge our own limitations.
“That has been the emphasis for our team. We have not really gone beyond that. That has helped us play consistent cricket over a longer period of time."
While Punjab have been the toast of the league with 11 wins from 14 matches, Kolkata have not been far behind notching seven successive victories to land the second spot.
If Glenn Maxwell (533) has been the talisman for Punjab, Kolkata opener Robin Uthappa (613 runs) has raced to the top of the run-charts with a consistent display.
Kolkata coach Trevor Bayliss believes his promotion as an opener worked wonders not only for the batsman but also for the team.
“Robin has been fantastic for us since he has gone to the top of the order,” the Australian said.
“We had role for him in the middle order in first half of the season. That obviously from his point of view and ours didn’t quite work. You live and learn as you go on.
“He has been fantastic since he came to the top of the order. His performance at the top of the order has mirrored our good run.”
In comparison, Maxwell has found the going tough in India after his brilliant run in the UAE where he scored 300 runs from five games.
In the last eight matches, he has scored 233 runs with 17 batsmen scoring more runs than him oer the course of the India leg so far.
“We don’t want to give too much away,” said Bayliss when asked about plans to curtail the impact of players like Maxwell. “We are very happy with the way we have played against Kings XI in the previous two matches.
“The game that we lost to them, we were chasing only 130-odd runs and that was when we weren’t batting at our best."
The weather forecast is not too promising with thunderstorms predicted for the evening.
If it is a washout, the match will be played on the reserve day tomorrow.
