Mumbai Indians have long been criticized for their inability to churn out positive results in their favour in the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League. Ever since the captaincy change, there hasn’t been great vibes surrounding the MI camp. They have already suffered enough and are on the verge of getting eliminated but they are not officially ruled out of the competition yet.
Although practically, it seems their journey is all but over, mathematically, they still have a slim chance but there is a catch. Hardik Pandya and Co. are currently placed at the penultimate position in the league stage points table. Having played 12 games so far, they have won four games and lost the remaining eight games. They have accumulated as many as 8 points with an Net Run Rate of -0.212.
IPL 2024 playoffs qualification scenario for Mumbai Indians
There is absolutely no margin for error left for the five-time IPL champions now and all they can do is win the remaining two games on priority but by bigger margins. If they manage to win the next two games against Kolkata Knight Riders and Lucknow Super Giants, they will end up with 12 points. This means that they will end up with six wins in the league stage.
Apart from these results, they will have to expect other results to go in their favour. As things stand, KKR and RR currently hold the top two spots as both teams garnered 16 points apiece. Now all that MI can do is hope these two teams keep up their winning run. If MI were to benefit from this, RR and KKR would gain 20 points or more. Besides that, MI would expect CSK to lose their remaining three games by large margins, which would leave them with only 12 points.
What will happen if SRH beats LSG?
Meanwhile, LSG and SRH are both level on 12 points. They are scheduled to play against each other on May 8, which is a Wednesday. This game will guarantee that either one of the teams will advance to 14 points. If that’s the case then MI would prefer the losing team to continue losing their remaining games. For instance, if SRH wins the game against LSG, then LSG would need to lose their next two games against DC and MI.
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If the aforementioned results happen as expected, then 3 to 4 teams could potentially end up with 12 points apiece. In this regard, Mumbai Indians would then have the opportunity to qualify for the playoffs based on their net run rate. However, it is highly unlikely to see these outcomes in the fag end of the league stage. While mathematically, they are still in the race, realistically, there is no hope of qualifying for the playoffs.