Six IPL teams in race for three play-off spots: Who has to do what to qualify

Having already qualified for the playoffs before Saturday’s match, and by thrashing Delhi Capitals, Mumbai Indians made sure of top spot and two chances of making the IPL final.

Dinesh Karthik of Kolkata Knight Riders during Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 cricket match against Rajasthan Royals, at Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (PTI Photo)

Mumbai Indians: They had already qualified for the playoffs before Saturday’s match, and by thrashing Delhi Capitals, Mumbai Indians made sure of top spot and two chances of making the IPL final. Even if they lose the first qualifier (between team No.1 and 2), they will get one more chance in the second qualifier to book a place in the final.

Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Capitals: The winners of Monday night’s game between these two teams will be guaranteed a top-two spot while the losers can even find themselves out of the competition, depending on other results.

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Sunrisers Hyderabad: They need to beat table-toppers Mumbai Indians to stay in the hunt. They would also hope for Kings XI Punjab to lose against Chennai Super Kings on Sunday, and the match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals to be a close one. They have two things going in their favour – their much better net run rate, and the fact that their match is the last league encounter, which means they would know exactly what they need to qualify.

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Kings XI Punjab: They have to beat party-poopers Chennai Super Kings to have any chance. Then they have to keep an eye on their net run rate and all the other teams who finish on 14 points. As of now, they are better placed than Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders in that regard.

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Rajasthan Royals: They need to beat KKR to stay relevant. They will also hope that CSK beat KXIP and Mumbai Indians get the better of Sunrisers Hyderabad. In that case, they will go through without net run rate coming into play.

Kolkata Knight Riders: They are in a similar position to RR. They need to beat Steve Smith’s team and hope KXIP and SRH lose. KKR’s net run rate is lower than that of RR so if either of those teams win their games, Eoin Morgan’s men will need to win by a very big margin to qualify.

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