Virat Kohli’s amazing century against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Thursday night has given Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) a great chance to finish in the top two of the IPL 2023 Points Table and earn their spot against Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 1. But for that to happen, RCB will need a lot of other things to go right besides winning their last league match against GT at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Sunday night.
RCB can move from 14 points to 16 points if they win on Sunday night. While MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) will stay on 15 points if they lose to Delhi Capitals and Kolkata Knight Riders on Saturday, respectively.
Faf du Plessis’s RCB will need to beat Hardik Pandya’s defending champions GT by a big margin if they want to keep their net run-rate higher than that of five-time winners Mumbai Indians (MI). Even if MI wins their last league match against SRH, RCB could still finish in second place with 16 points.
Check out how RCB could end up in second place on the Points Table…
RCB needs to beat GT in the last league match on Sunday to get 16 points.
- Both CSK and LSG must lose their last league games.
- MI needs to lose their last league game against SRH or win by a large score for their NRR not to go above that of RCB.
- In addition to RCB, CSK, MI, LSG, KKR, Rajasthan Royals, and Punjab Kings can still make it to the Playoffs stage. Here’s how the other teams can join the Playoffs…
Chennai Super Kings:
MS Dhoni’s team needs to beat DC on Saturday in their last league match to get to 17 points and make sure they’re in the playoffs.
Lucknow Super Giants:
Kurnal Pandya led-LSG must beat KKR on Saturday night to get to 17 points and secure a spot in the playoffs.
Mumbai Indians:
Rohit Sharma’s team needs to beat SRH by a large score in their last match if they want to qualify with 16 points, even if RCB, CSK, and LSG all win their last league games. They can also qualify if CSK and LSG lose their last games and they win, or if RCB loses their last game and MI beats SRH.
Kolkata Knight Riders:
Their chances of making it to the Playoffs are very low. For them to get 14 points, they have to beat LSG on Saturday. Then they have to hope that RCB and MI both lose their last games. In this case, KKR, RCB, MI, and one of RR or PBKS will all have 14 points, and the team with the best net run rate (NRR) will win.
Royals of Rajasthan:
Sanju Samson’s RR team needs to beat Punjab Kings by a big margin in their last league game to improve their NRR. Then, they have to hope that KKR, RCB, and MI lose their last games, so that RR, RCB, and MI all have 14 points, and the team with the best net run rate goes up.
Punjab Kings:
Shikhar Dhawan’s team has even less chance of making it. Like the Royals, they need to beat RR by a big margin on Friday night. Then, they have to hope that KKR, RCB, and MI lose their last games, so that PBKS, RCB, and MI all have 14 points, and the team with the best net run rate goes up.
