Even though they beat the Kolkata Knight Riders badly, the IPL 2008 winners, the Rajasthan Royals, are currently in sixth place with 12 points. But a humiliating loss to Royal Challengers Bangalore, in which they were swept out for 59 runs, the third-lowest total in IPL history, ruined their hopes of making the playoffs. With only one league game left on May 19 against the Punjab Kings, they must win to get 14 points and keep their hopes of making the playoffs alive.
At the moment, all three clubs have 12 points, but PBKS, RCB, and RR only have one game left to play. To have a chance of making the playoffs, RR would need both PBKS and RCB to lose their next two games, which would let them pass PBKS with a win. They would also hope that the Kolkata Knight Riders don’t win either of their next two games, which would give them an extra point.
But with only one game left, the Mumbai Indians have 14 points and the Lucknow Super Giants have 13. On May 16, the two teams will play each other. The winner will move up to third place, making it harder for the other teams to qualify. In that case, RR hopes that whoever wins the game loses their last match and that whoever loses the game also loses their next game. The last game for MI is against Sunrisers Hyderabad, and the last game for LSG is against KKR.
RR also has a net run rate of +0.140, which means that if they beat PBKS in their next game by a large margin, they will have an advantage if multiple teams finish the league stage with 14 points.
Overall, the Rajasthan Royals’ hopes of making the playoffs depend on how the other games turn out. They have to win their last game, but they also have to have done well in earlier games against the teams above them. It’s still not clear if they can turn things around and get into the playoffs.
