EXPLAINED: How MI Can Still Finish In Top 2 Despite Losing By 5 Runs Against LSG

New Delhi: Rohit Sharma-led Mumbai Indians failed to get the better of Lucknow Super Giants on Tuesday (May 16) during Match No. 63 of the IPL 2023, which was played at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow. The five-time champions, despite having a good start, failed to chase down the target of 178 runs against Krunal Pandya & Co. and went down by five runs to suffer their sixth defeat in 13 matches played so far this season.

Mumbai had a chance to jump to No. 2 position in the IPL 2023 points table had they won on Tuesday night, but after losing, they have now slipped to No. 4 position and have 14 points from 13 matches. On the other hand, the win over MI has given a big boost to LSG’s chances of reaching the playoffs. They have 15 points from 13 games, and one more win will absolutely confirm their place in the last four, irrespective of the results of other matches.

For MI to reach the playoffs for the first time in three years, they need to win the next match against Sunrisers Hyderabad (May 21) by a big margin now anyway, because if they fail to do so, they might get knocked out of the tournament. MI, which last won the title in 2020, had a chance to finish in the top two if they had defeated LSG in Lucknow, but they let go of that opportunity. However, they can still play in qualifier 1 against the Gujarat Titans in Chennai on May 23.

Here’s how MI can finish in the top 2:

For MI to finish in the top 2, they have to win their last league stage match against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on May 21. If they do so, they will finish the league stage with 16 points from 14 matches. Apart from that, they also have to hope that CSK, LSG, RCB, and PBKS lose at least one of their remaining matches. CSK and LSG both have 15 points from 13 matches as of now, and if they lose against DC (on May 20) and KKR (on May 20), they will finish at 15 points only, and MI can end up above them. RCB and PBKS have 12 points from 12 matches played so far, and both of these teams can also reach a maximum of 16 points, but if they lose one of the last two matches, they can only amass a maximum of 14 points and thus will finish below MI, and by virtue of 16 points, MI will confirm a place in Qualifier 1.
Finishing in the top 2 becomes important for teams because then they will get two chances to try and reach the summit clash.