IPL 2024: MI become first team to get officially knocked out of playoffs race

MI’s hopes of making it to the IPL 2024 Playoffs has officially come to an end as SRH’s commanding win over LSG meant.

That the 5-time IPL Champions are officially knocked out from the running on May 8, Wednesday. MI had only won 4 matches so far in Hardik Pandya’s first season as the skipper of the franchise didn’t live up to expectations.

With 8 losses to their name already, MI can only get to 12 points if they do manage to win their last two matches. However, SRH’s win meant that they went to 14 points on the table. With DC and LSG set to face on May 14, one of the two would also get 14 points. This means that MI will not make the cut-off to make it to the playoffs.

MI also have a tough task ahead of them as they will face KKR in the next game at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata before ending their campaign against LSG on May 17. While Jasprit Bumrah has stepped with the ball, the batting lineup has failed to find consistency while Hardik’s captaincy has also been questioned.

The SRH win also means that the PBKS vs RCB game has now turned into a do-or-die for the teams as the loser will be officially out of the competition.

How did SRH thrash LSG?
SRH annihilated LSG to storm back into the top 3 as they responded well to their loss against MI. Having opted to bat first, LSG reached their lowest powerplay total of 27 for 2. KL Rahul’s innings was criticised as LSG needed Ayush Badoni and Nicholas Pooran to give them the much-needed momentum in the last few overs of the innings as LSG posted 165 in their 20 overs.

When everyone thought it was a slow track, Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma made a mockery out of the target. Head scored his fifty off just 16 balls while Abhishek would match his partner in 19 balls. SRH scored 107 in the powerplay as LSG looked clueless in the end. SRH won the match in the end with 10 wickets remaining and in 9.4 overs to move into the top 3.