Chennai Super Kings have eight points from 11 games in IPL 2022. They can have a maximum of 14 points from this stage.
In cricket, you can predict a result, but cannot be certain every time. This is the beauty of this game that keeps its followers on the edge of their seats until the actual result comes out. Such is the case with four-time champions Chennai Super Kings. The chances of their playoff entry are extremely slim but MS Dhoni & Co. are still in the race, if not practically, mathematically at least.
Chennai Super Kings humbled Delhi Capitals by a huge margin of 91 runs at DY Patil Stadium on Sunday night. It is the biggest win in IPL 2022 in terms of runs. With this victory, CSK now have eight points to their credit from 11 games. They sit at the second half of the table.
“It would have been better if we would have had a win like this somewhere early,” said MS Dhoni after winning the game against DC on Sunday.
Talking about the net run rate and CSK’s chances of playoff qualification, the legendary skipper said: “I am not a big fan of maths. Even in school I wasn't good at it. Thinking of the NRR doesn't help. You just want to enjoy the IPL. When two other teams are playing, you don't want to be under pressure and thinking. You just have to think about what to do in the next game. If we make the playoffs, great. But even if we don't it's not the end of the world.”
Whatever be going on in the mind of CSK players, but the team still has an outside chance. And writing a champion team off before the actual end would not be a good idea for other teams, especially Sunrisers Hyderabad, Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals, who all have 10 points each, only two more than that of CSK.
The first and foremost thing Chennai Super Kings need is to win their all three remaining games that too by a big margin so that their net run rate remains better than that of their competitors. Their next matches are against Mumbai Indians on May 12, Gujarat Titans on May 15 and Rajasthan Royals on May 20. A loss in any of these games will simply push CSK out of the playoff race. But if they manage to win all these, they will get to 14 points by the end of league stage.
However, even those 14 points alone would not be enough to take the MS Dhoni-led side to the playoffs and the side would need some result of other matches to go in their favour. Here is how they would wish the results to be.
Mumbai Indians beat Kolkata Knight Riders – KKR (10 points from 12 games)
Rajasthan Royals beat Delhi Capitals - RR (16 points), DC (10 points from 12 games)
Punjab Kings Beat Royal Challengers Bangalore – PBKS (12 points from 12 games), RCB (14 points from 13 games)
Kolkata Knight Riders beat Sunrisers Hyderabad – KKR (10 points from 13 games), SRH (10 points from 12 games)
Delhi Capitals beat Punjab Kings – DC (12 points from 13 matches), PBKS (12 points from 13 games)
Mumbai Indians beat Sunrisers Hyderabad – SRH (10 points from 13 games)
Lucknow Super Giants beat Kolkata Knight Riders – KKR (10 points from 14 games)
Gujarat Titans beat Royal Challengers Bangalore – RCB (14 points from 14 games)
Mumbai Indians beat Delhi Capitals – DC (12 points from 14 matches)
Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Punjab Kings – SRH (12 points from 14 games), PBKS (12 points from 14 games)
In this case, LSG, GT and RR will qualify for the playoffs as the top three teams, while CSK can enter as the fourth team if it could inch RCB on the basis of net run rate after being tied at 14 points. Meanwhile, SRH, PBKS and DC can have a maximum of 12 points each in this case.