The Sunrisers Hyderabad versus Gujarat Titans match scheduled for Thursday (May 16) in Hyderabad was abandoned without a ball bowled due to rain and adverse weather conditions. This was the second washout in IPL 2024, after Gujarat Titans-Kolkata Knight Riders in Ahmedabad on Monday. This one confirmed SRH’s qualification for the playoffs.
The teams were awarded one point each. With this outcome, SRH becomes the third team to secure a playoff berth after KKR and Rajasthan Royals. They have 15 points from 13 games. SRH also have a chance to grab a top-two finish, if they beat Punjab Kings on Sunday and RR lose to KKR. GT ended their campaign with 12 points from 14 matches.
With three teams having already qualified, attention now turns to the match between Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bengaluru, scheduled for May 18 in Bengaluru. RCB need a victory to reach 14 points and also a better net run rate than CSK for playoff qualification. They must win by 18 runs or in 18.1 overs, if they target they chase is 200.
Conversely, CSK must focus on minimising the margin of defeat to preserve their net run rate advantage over RCB. Even a narrow victory would suffice for CSK. They can also clinch the second position by defeating RCB, if RR and SRH falter in their last matches.
For Lucknow Super Giants, qualification is unlikely, even with a win against the bottom-ranked Mumbai Indians on Friday, given their net run rate of -0.787. Currently, they have 12 points.