Fortunes continued to fluctuate on the IPL 2023 points table over the weekend, which has continued a wildly unpredictable 16th season of the league and made this, arguably, the tightest IPL of all.
On Saturday, Lucknow Super Giants held onto fourth place by defeating Sunrisers Hyderabad before Punjab Kings ended Delhi Capitals’ season to keep their own hopes afloat. The next day, Royal Challengers Bangalore significantly boosted their net run rate (NRR) while swapping places at fifth place with Rajasthan Royals, whose freefall continued with a massive 112-run defeat. In the second match, Kolkata Knight Riders restricted hosts Chennai Super Kings to 144/6 and then chased that down for the loss of six wickets to get themselves to 12 points which is the same as RR, RCB and PBKS have.
What this last result has done is keep the nature of the top two teams unclear, which is fascinating to watch, while raising the hopes of Mumbai Indians, who are at third place with 14 points and two matches in hand, of finishing at second place if they win their remaining two games. However, if Mumbai lose these two matches and other teams end up on 15 points, it will come down to NRR and that could knock out Rohit Sharma’s team.
Table-toppers Gujarat, who remain on 16 points with two matches to play, will hope to confirm their passage to the playoffs when they play struggling SRH today at home. Lose, and Gujarat’s final match versus RCB on May 21 – the last fixture of the league stage – will become pivotal to decide who finishes in the top two. MS Dhoni’s CSK have one match left, against Delhi on May 20, and even if they win that one they are not assured a top-two finish. Should CSK lose to Delhi, they could even be eliminated because five teams can still finish on 15 points.
The most crippling loss from this weekend was Rajasthan’s. From once being number one on the IPL 2023 points table, the team has slipped one rung with each passing defeat and the nine-wicket thrashing of KKR has been firmly shoved into the distance with this latest defeat. Being bowled out for 59 in 10.3 overs has severely hit RR’s NRR, and with a solitary match to play – against Punjab on May 19 – this team will rely on other results going their way.
Bangalore have two games to play, and are in with a very good chance of reaching 16 points and thus qualifying for the playoffs. For this, they have a woeful Rajasthan batting lineup to thank. Their NRR was lower than Punjab’s following the result of their match with Delhi, but by thumping Rajasthan by 112 runs on Sunday, RCB have wiped that off.
Punjab play Delhi on Wednesday and Rajasthan on Friday. If they can pocket two points from each match they will end up on 16, but their NRR will have to significantly improve along the way.
Kolkata, after beating CSK in Chennai, are also alive but they have the thinnest chance of making the top four with 14 points. They need to defeat LSG and then hope that no more than three teams cross 14 points.
Is this the craziest IPL ever? It seems so, given how crammed the points table has increasingly become.
