Who will Progress to the IPL 2024 Play-Offs? RCB or CSK or Both?

As the Indian Premier League (IPL) nears its business end, all eyes are on two teams – Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

The two teams will meet at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on May 18, which could be a knock-out match for both teams, with the winner progressing to the play-offs and the loser ending their IPL 2024 campaign.

The scales do tilt in favour of CSK but with Delhi Capitals’ win over Lucknow Super Giants on Tuesday doing no good to either of them, it mostly would leave CSK and RCB fighting for one spot, assuming Sunrisers Hyderabad do not choke and go the distance.

Assuming SRH beat the Gujarat Titans on May 16, it would need RCB to beat CSK at any cost, that too by a margin of at least 18 runs, assuming they score 200. If RCB is chasing, they’d need to overhaul a 200-run target in about 18.1 overs.

If RCB do not fail to achieve either but manages to win the game against CSK, their only hope is to see SRH lose both of their matches and stay on 14 points.

A rain interruption or an RCB defeat will surely knock them out of contention.

CSK’s task is simpler than that of RCB’s. They need to win the match to progress and if they lose, they shouldn’t lose by more than 18 runs or take the match to the last over. A CSK win will see them through, along with SRH.

However, in the event of SRH losing both their matches and staying on 14 points and a CSK loss by a larger margin, both RCB and CSK can qualify for the play-offs if SRH’s Net Run Rate falls below CSK’s.

If SRH wins over GT, it will jump to 16 points, and an RCB loss will keep them at 14, while CSK will go to 16 points and qualify for the play-offs.