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The Rajasthan Royals (RR) defeated Punjab Kings (PBKS) on Thursday at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala to live for another day in the IPL 2023 playoffs race while they knocked out PBKS from the playoff race. This was the last match of the league phase for both RR and PBKS.
The onus is now on other teams in the table to win their remaining game and make the contention for the playoffs.
Punjab Kings posted a formidable total of 187/5 in this must-win encounter for both teams. PBKS were in big trouble at 50/4 having lost Liam Livingstone. But Jitesh Sharma (44 off 28), Sam Curran (49* off 31), and Shahrukh Khan (41* off 23) pulled them back in the game to take them to a total of over 180.
In reply, even though RR lost Jos Buttler early – for this third consecutive duck! – in-form Yashasvi Jaiswal and making a comeback in the side Devdutt Padikkal went all guns blazing against the PBKS bowlers. Padikkal cracked 51 off 30 while Jaiswal scored 50 off 36. Later on Hetmyer smashing 46 off 28 brought RR close to the target for Dhruv Jurel to win the match in the last over with a six.
With this win, RR finish the league stage with 14 points and pipped over Mumbai Indians.
RR sit at the 5th position with 14 points in 14 games while MI are 6th with 14 points in 13 games. RCB have 14 points in 13 games and have a better NRR than both RR and MI.
Can RR get into playoffs in IPL 2023
RR will be eliminated if any one of RCB and MI win their last game. RR needs both MI and RCB to lose their last match, and for RCB to lose by a margin that pushed their NRR lower than RR’s.
If RCB win their last match and MI lose their last match, RCB will certainly reach the playoffs. But if RCB and MI both win their last game then it will come down to NRR. NRR will also be in contention if RCB and MI both lose their last game, and KKR will then get in the mix if they win their last game as they currently have 12 points in 13 games.
So basically, KKR, RR, RCB, and MI could all end up with 14 points and one of them will go through on NRR. The margin of results in the remaining matches will be key.
CSK and LSG are 2nd and 3rd respectively. A victory for them in their last matches will certainly see them not only in the playoffs, but also one of them could get into the top 2.
4 matches are left and 3 playoff spots are up for grabs. Let the weekend roll on.
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