What a bizarre twist of fate that sees the same four teams who contested the last two league games line up against each once again in the first round of ‘playoff' matches.
The losers of this match get a second chance to make the final if they can beat the winner of KKR's repeat match against the Mumbai Indians.
If we had won on Sunday night then I think it would have been a KKR-Bangalore top-two finish and an ‘easier' path to the final (not that there is such a thing as an ‘easy' game in this tournament.
Defending 21 off the final over is not what it used to be! At the beginning of my international career it wouldn't even have raised the heart-rate — no batting side is reasonably expected to have a chance with 21 needed off six balls.
Changed scenario
But things have changed and we won't be the last team to lose in such circumstances.
Defending 21 off the final over is like defending 12 ten years ago, that's how much things have changed.
Anyway, as I have said many times before, it is a mistake just to look at the final over for the causes of victory and defeat.
If we had done a few things differently earlier in the innings, perhaps scored a few more runs and made fewer mistakes in the field, the match would have been won well before that final over.
We'll just have to make absolutely certain that we don't make any similar mistakes on Wednesday — at least we don't have any doubts about our ability to beat Mumbai after Sunday's game.
We weren't ruthless enough at the death and we proved one of the sport's oldest proverbs: the game is never over until it's over.
Hard task
If we can get past Mumbai then it's on to face Bangalore or Chennai for a place in the final.
It's a hard task, there's no doubt about that, but in many ways we are the underdogs with all three teams having finished above us on the final league table. I expect the ‘experts' to be predicting our downfall sooner than later, which is fine by all of us.
Finally, I want to say a massive ‘Thank You' to the Kolkata crowd, not just for filling the Gardens on Sunday but for your support throughout the tournament.
Sorry, we couldn't finish the home season with a win but, what a night anyway!
