NEW DELHI: Defending champions Mumbai Indians’ narrow three-run win over Kings XI Punjab on Wednesday at the Wankhede Stadium has moved them to fourth place on the IPL 2018 points table, while pushing down their opponents to sixth position.
This has left Mumbai, KXIP and Rajasthan Royals (fifth) tied on 12 points, with seventh-placed Royal Challengers Bangalore on 10 points. Two-time IPL winners Kolkata Knight Riders are at third place with 14 points, but still are not assured of a berth in the IPL 2018 play-offs.
Let’s take a look at what the five teams need to do to make the play-offs.
MUMBAI INDIANS (P 13 W 6 L 7 PT 12 NRR 0.384)
Rohit Sharma’s team will hope to beat Delhi Daredevils in their final game over the weekend to finish the league stage on 14 points. If they lose to Daredevils, Mumbai can still make the play-offs if KXIP and RCB lose their last games and Sunrisers Hyderabad beat RCB. In this scenario, Mumbai, KXIP, RCB and Rajasthan will all finish on 12 points, but a higher NRR could push the defending champions over the line.
KINGS XI PUNJAB (P 13 W 6 L 7 PT 12 NRR -0.490)
KXIP now have to beat CSK on Sunday while hoping that other results go their way. This means that Daredevils have to beat Mumbai, Rajasthan have to beat RCB and RCB have to also lose to SRH. That will give KXIP 14 points and the other three hopefuls on 12.
RAJASTHAN ROYALS (P 13 W 6 L 7 PT 12 NRR -0.399)
The Ajinkya Rahane-led franchise will have to win their last game and hope that MI and RCB don’t get to 14 points.
ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE (P 12 W 5 L 7 PT 10 NRR 0.218)
The target will at the least be to secure a huge win over KXIP to boost their NRR, but winning their two remaining games versus SRH on Thursday and Rajasthan on Saturday has to be top of RCB’s plans. Doing so will give them 14 points, but RCB will also need Mumbai to lose to DD or KKR to lose both their remaining fixtures to stay on 14 points.
KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS (P 13 W 7 L 6 PT 14 NRR -0.096)
Mumbai’s win over KXIP means that KKR have held onto third place on the IPL 2018 leaderboard. They will hope to beat SRH in their last match on Saturday and secure a play-off spot.