With IPL getting to its business end now, the race for the 4th spot in the playoffs is heating up. Currently, KKR is in the best position to qualify as the fourth team, but Mumbai still has a chance mathematically.
However, the problem for Mumbai Indians is their Net Run Rate (NRR). They secured a thumping win over Rajasthan Royals at Sharjah in their last game and that enhanced their NRR quite a bit, but they are still a fair way behind KKR in terms of NRR.
Both Mumbai Indians and KKR might finish with same no. of points
The way things stand right now, there is a real possibility that both KKR and Mumbai Indians might end up with 14 points at the closure of the league stage and whichever team will have the higher NRR will advance to the playoff stage. Currently, the NRR of KKR is +0.587 and that of Mumbai Indians is -0.048 and there is a massive difference between the two.
For Mumbai to make sure they are at par with KKR in terms of NRR, they will have to beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by a margin of 170 runs in their last league game. If they bat second, they have no chance because even if they chase the target in 1 over, that will not be enough for them to go past KKR’s NRR.
5 Times a Team won by more than 170 Runs in T20 history.
MI need to be 6th team to qualify for play-offs
AdvertisementRCB need to be 7th team to qualify for qualifier one
— Broken Cricket (@BrokenCricket) October 8, 2021
NRR might not have come into the equation at all
There might have been a scenario where NRR might not have come into the equation at all. If KKR had lost their last match against Rajasthan Royals, they would have been stuck at 12 points and in that scenario, Mumbai, by beating SRH in their last game, would have gone ahead of KKR simply on the basis of points. But, obviously that can’t happen now.
Now Mumbai Indians have a virtually impossible task at their hand, but since it’s Mumbai Indians who have done miraculous things in the past, you never know.
