IPL 2021 Points Table: Updated Standings and qualifying scenarios after MI knock out RR
Defending IPL champions Mumbai Indians (MI) chose the perfect time to join the party in IPL 2021, doing so by defeating Rajasthan Royals (RR) in emphatic fashion on Tuesday.
It all started when RR, after making some inexeplicable changes to their playing XI, failed to adapt to the slow but compatible Sharjah surface. Only Ewin Lewis (24 off 19) showed some courage as the batting order collapsed to a meek 90-9, which was also the lowest first innings total at that IPL venue. Nathan Coulter-Nile was magnificent for MI and good value for his four-wicket haul (4/14).
MI's batsmen replicated the performances of their bowlers. Led by comeback man Ishan Kishan's unbeaten 50, struck at the strike-rate of exactly 200, Rohit Sharma and Co. took just two blows and 8.2 overs to go over the line and sound a warning note for all of their opponents.
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A look at the updated IPL 2021 points table
What does this mean for MI?
50*(25) 👉 Back with a BANG! And HOW! 🤩🔥
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The win not only brought MI on par with the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for 12 points in the table but also gave an unbelievable +0.405 boost to the net run rate which now sits much closer to KKR's than before this game. The five-time winners also leapfrogged RR and Punjab Kings (PBKS) to sit in fifth place in the IPL standings.
This means that to qualify, MI will need to win their last league-stage match against eighth-placed SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Friday by a margin big enough to wipe out the remaining NRR gulf with the Eoin Morgan-led team. Or they'll have to hope that KKR does the job for them by losing horribly to RR on Thursday.
In either case, MI now have momentum behind them and it won't be a surprise if they pull-off the unexpected once again by qualifying in the IPL 2021 playoffs.
What does this mean for RR?
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RR have been all but knocked out of the race for the fourth spot. Their only chance to qualify is hypothetical at best. It would require them to beat KKR by a bigger margin than today's match and then pray for SRH to do something similar against MI.
Not to mention that even if those two conditions are met, PBKS can still nudge ahead of RR if KL Rahul's men beat CSK on Thursday. Right now it seems like RR's promising season will end in seventh position in the points table, just one spot above their previous year's performance.
Impact on other team's in the points table
MI's precipituous rise has sent PBKS down to sixth place in the table. But the team most impacted from today's game would be KKR, who would not only have to win against RR but do so convincingly and then hope for MI to either lose or win a close game against SRH.
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The two-time champions missed the cut for the qualifiers in an eerily similar scenario in IPL 2020 and would not like to be in this awkward spot again.