IPL Predictions: A look at the bottom four's chances of making to IPL Playoffs

Every year, the IPL provides us with some nerve-wracking competition. One that isn't over, till it's over. This year too the race in the league stage to qualify for the IPL top 4 is nip and tuck. No matter how much expert analysis is put on the table, predicting the Indian Premier League is running a fool's errand. Especially this season.

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The top three teams as of this moment, Delhi Capitals (DC), Mumbai Indians (MI), and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have ticked most boxes to stay in those positions, with positional interchanges within them. Though, the race for the fourth spot remains a dogfight! 

Let's take a look at the situation of the IPL bottom 4 in the points table as of now to foresee all the probabilities:

• Kings XI Punjab:
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What are the odds? Kings Xi Punjab managed to beat just one team in the first half of the tournament. RCB. The team they first faced in their last seven games. The team they defeated again. A result that has almost changed the look of their fate in the league this season.

KXIP in IPL 2020 can be counted as one of the most unlucky teams in the IPL history. Any game for that matter. The way they lost out on points in some of the close games made them an easy to ignore feature in the final four predictions. Everywhere. 

The Kings have fought back though with three consecutive wins against the top three teams in the IPL Standings. A streak that also includes the unreal game that was played in the Dubai International Stadium last Sunday. The Double Super Over game! And when a team wins games like these, they are bound to believe. And if they hadn't already, they will now.

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Punjab is fifth in the points table, only two points behind KKR. In fact, the thing that will work best for them, even better than the situation for SRH is that they will face every team that is fighting for the fourth spot. So a win in all games will seal the deal for them. An incident which will have to be referred to as 'the best comeback of all times in the history of IPL'.

• Sunrisers Hyderabad:
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Before the double-headers last week, the Sunrisers were breathing on the neck of the fourth-placed side, Kolkata Knight Riders. KKR were also the team they faced on Sunday. And had SRH won that game against SRK's(Shah Rukh Khan's) team they could've earned a spot in the top 4. It wasn't to be as they failed to finish a game they should've won.

The first of the three IPL super overs on a freak Sunday resulted in their fall. A defeat that took them to the seventh spot in the IPL points table. Hyderabad currently has 4 wins out of 10 matches. 

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It is a tough road ahead of them as they face the top three in their last three (Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai respectively). It's a no brainer that they have to win all of their next games. A win in the next game might set them up nicely for the tough last three. A defeat though can mean a fall in morale at the wrong time.

• Rajasthan Royals:

When Rahul Tewatia made the headlines following his exploits in Sharjah against the Kings Xi Punjab, not many would've expected that RR would find themselves in a tricky situation this season. Like they usually have in IPL.

Especially with the services of their star England trio, Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes and Australian star Steve Smith. But they have struggled. And even though Jofra has made it to the top four of the purple cap race, RR haven't when it comes to the IPL 2020 points table. The batting department has been a major issue for the first IPL T20 champions. They lost to RCB on the weekend even though they had managed to set a more than a decent total of 177/6, courtesy of an AB De classic!

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Rajasthan has four wins from eleven games and is behind Punjab and Hyderabad on the net run rate. Which looks bad for them in case it boils down to the very last drop of the juice. They play Mumbai, Punjab, and Kolkata in their last three IPL games.

A good thing for them is the point that apart from Mumbai they will face teams from the bottom half of the table. So a win in all games will also result in their competition losing out on some much-needed points.

• Chennai Super Kings: 

The only team as of now that relies on the performance of other teams to keep that slim chance of qualification for the top four surprisingly is CSK. The only team in IPL to have made it to the top four every single time since the dawn of IPL in 2008. But inarguably the most disappointing team in IPL 2020 has been CSK.

Chennai Super Kings have won just three out of eleven games and their fans have prepared the calculators for all the possible permutations and combinations. Chennai Super Kings' remaining games are against Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kolkata Knight Riders, and Kings XI Punjab. 

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For starters, they will have to win all three IPL games by a convincing margin so that their net run-rate improves. Apart from this, the result of every team above them will influence their chances of IPL playoffs. CSK can garner only a maximum of 12 points after winning their next three games.

After the massacre against Mumbai Indians, evergreen calm and composed CSK captain, MS Dhoni was quoted saying in the post-match interview, "Well it does hurt. What you need to see is what is going wrong, this year hasn't been our year. In only one or two games this year we have batted and bowled well together. Whether you lose by ten wickets or eight wickets it hardly matters."

He also added, "All the players are hurting, but they are trying their best. It doesn't always go your way. Hopefully, in the next three games, we'll try to put our last stand."

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