KKR kept their playoff hopes alive by defeating Sunrisers Hyderabad on Thursday. Out of 10 matches they have won four and lost six. It is still not easy for them to reach the playoffs. What if KKR can reach the playoffs?
First of all they have to win all four matches. In that case their points will be 16. At the moment there are six teams above Kolkata in terms of number of wins. Gujarat have already won seven matches. If the rest of the teams win 7 matches or less, Kolkata will easily advance to the next round. Gujarat are pretty much assured in the playoffs. As a result, the remaining teams will not be allowed to win more than seven matches in any way, for KKR to guide themselves towards the playoffs.
Last time also ten team IPL was held. Bengaluru went into the playoffs as the fourth team. Their points were 16. Delhi and Rajasthan were narrowly knocked out of the play-off race with just two points less. If either of these two teams had won one more match, they could have easily eliminated Bengaluru in the playoffs. Then the run rate of both the teams was better than Bangalore.
Net run rate to play a huge role for KKR to reach the playoffs
As a result, KKR will not only have to win the remaining four matches, but the run rate will also have to increase a lot to hope for the playoffs. Right now, none of the top four teams in the IPL are in minus run-rate. If KKR’s run rate is a little better, they can climb to the fourth spot with one more win. Because the point difference between KKR and fourth-placed Rajasthan is only two.
But the difference in net run rate is huge. While Rajasthan’s run rate is 0.448, Kolkata -0.103. In other words, they have to win the next two or three matches by a big margin in order to reach the playoffs. At the same time, one has to hope that the top four teams cannot increase the run rate.
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