Kolkata Knight Riders will be disappointed with their batting and bowling as despite having the Chennai Super Kings five down for 60, they ended up conceding 180 as the visitors registered only their third win of the ongoing IPL season.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) had their IPL 2025 campaign pushed into jeopardy by the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Eden Gardens’ centenary game in the tournament on Wednesday, May 8. Knight Riders will rue their middle-overs batting and bowling in the latter half of the innings as CSK gave them chances to latch onto and maybe pull the match in their favour, but the hosts faltered and eventually MS Dhoni and Co registered only their third win of the season.
The result meant that the Knight Riders were now left with 11 points in 12 games and now can only get to a maximum of 15 points. Sam Curran didn’t play for the Super Kings on Wednesday, but the Men in Yellow have surely spoiled KKR’s party as even if they win their next two games, they won’t be sure of a play in the final four.
KKR are done with their home games and will be travelling to Hyderabad and Bengaluru to face the Sunrisers (who are already eliminated) and RCB (who are in contention for a top-two spot). Since KKR have an odd point, they won’t be able to get to 16 but given how the table has panned out, eight wins might not be enough this time around for teams to qualify for the playoffs. KKR are in a straight shootout with Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals, who also have an odd point in their kitty.
So, for KKR to qualify for the playoffs, they have to win their remaining couple of games and hope that Delhi lose their last two games but beat the Punjab Kings on Thursday in Dharamsala. Also, the Kings, who are already on 15 points, will have to lose all their remaining games so that three teams get stuck on 15 and KKR then might go through if they have a better NRR than Punjab and Delhi.
RCB and the Gujarat Titans are the safest teams currently, given they have already reached 16 points and one more win out of their respective three matches should result in a Q being added next to their name. Punjab Kings, if they beat Delhi on Thursday. The Ricky Ponting derby has suddenly become the most important clash of the season so far, given its repercussions on the teams playing as well as the rest of the table.
