The league stage of the ongoing 2023 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is at an end. At the same time, there has been a lot of competition between the teams to go to the playoffs of this season and on Thursday (May 19) RCB kept themselves alive with a win over the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by a massive eight wickets.
Leading the line was former skipper Virat Kohli, who smashed his sixth century of IPL history, the joint-most alongside former teammate Chris Gayle. With a race for the playoffs going to the wire, here is how RCB can still make it to the next round.
Gujarat Titans have to be defeated
If Kohli's RCB want to make it to the playoffs, they will have to win their last league stage match. However, this match is not going to be easy as they face Hardik Pandya's Gujarat Titans (GT), who are on top of the points table heading into the last match of the tournament. If RCB win against Gujarat, they will finish with 16 points.
If Mumbai Indians (MI) also win the final match against Hyderabad, then both teams will have 16 points. But the net run rate of RCB is better so they will go through.
What if RCB loses?
On the other hand, if the RCB team loses in the match against GT then he will have to pray for defeat in the last league matches of Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and Mumbai Indians (MI). After this, the last teams to make it to the playoffs will be decided on the basis of Net Run Rate (NRR). But if Mumbai Indians (MI) win the last league match and RCB loses then MI will qualify for the playoffs.
RCB and MI on par
Talking about RCB, in 13 matches this season, they have 14 points in seven wins. While the net run rate of RCB is +0.180, on the other hand, talking about MI, they also have 14 points from seven wins in 13 matches and their net run rate is -0.128 less than RCB. In this way, MI will not only have to register a win against SRH but they also need a big win in their last game of the season.
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