IPL 2017: Playoffs scenarios - Sunrisers Hyderabad and Delhi Daredevils

In the two crucial games played on Saturday which had the maximum impact on playoff scenarios, the home sides, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Delhi Daredevils lost to the Rising Pune Supergiant and Mumbai Indians respectively. With this wins, Pune moved mighty close to sealing a berth in playoffs while Mumbai became the first team to finalise their top 4 finish.

On another hand, the losing teams, Sunrisers and Daredevils have put their playoffs berths in jeopardy with the losses, however, the Hyderabad franchise is in a way better position than the Delhi side.

Sunrisers Hyderabad:

SRH had a chance to move closer to having a chance of finishing in the top 4 by continuing their unbeaten streak at home and making it 6 wins in 6 games but the Supergiant brought an end to it with an all-round performance.

With 6 wins in 12 games, Sunrisers currently have 13 points with the additional point coming due to a washout. If they manage to win their remaining two games, they will finish with 17 points and will want a few results of other games to go their way. The odd point helps SRH with the NRR, they need not worry about the margin of their win nor the margin of wins of other teams.

17 points:

Kings XI Punjab should lose at least one of their remaining four games.

(or)

Kolkata Knight Riders should lose at least two out of their remaining three games.

(or)

Rising Pune Supergiant must end up on the losing side in their remaining two games.

15 points:

Sunrisers will want the results of Kings XI Punjab or Kolkata Knight Riders to go on their way in case they manage to win only one of their remaining two games.

In which case Punjab must lose two of their remaining four games.

(or)

Kolkata Knight Riders should end second in all of their remaining three games.

13 points:

The defending champions will still have a chance even if they end up losing both their games. In which case SRH will end up with 13 points in their bag, a number which never took a team to the next round in the IPL.

Kings XI Punjab must lose three of their remaining four games.

(or)

Delhi Daredevils, on the other hand, should lose at least one of their remaining three games.

Delhi Daredevils:

Two good wins in two games brought Delhi Daredevils’ back in the hunt to finish in the top 4 but the Mumbai Indians almost buried it with a huge 146-run win. DD, who had a good NRR before coming into this game, ended up worsening it after this result. Their NRR right now is -0.66, the second worst behind RCB among all the 8 teams. To even have a little chance of making it to the top 4, DD have to win in their remaining three wins.

No improvement in NRR:

In case if DD’s net run-rate doesn’t improve and that of their counterparts doesn’t deteriorate, DD would want Sunrisers to lose both their games and Kings XI Punjab must not win more than one of their remaining four matches.

Huge improvement in NRR:

With three games to be played, DD have a good chance of getting big wins and boost their NRR. On the other hand, they will need one of SRH and KKR to lose their remaining games and Kings XI Punjab to not win more than two of their remaining four matches.

Case 1: SRH losing in their both games

a) If KKR loses their remaining three games, their NRR is bound to come down by a fair margin and big wins for DD will ensure them a better net run-rate than KKR.

b) If KXIP losses two of their remaining four matches, their NRR will alter marginally but if DD manage to win big, it can push them to a better net run-rate than KXIP.

Case 2: SRH winning in of their two games

Delhi Daredevils will want KKR to lose their remaining three games and Kings XI to not win more than two if SRH manages to win one of their next two games. At the same time, DD need to win big as they might be tied on 14 points with KKR and KXIP. When DD play their last league match they will know the requisite for them to end up with a spot in the top 4 on the basis of their NRR.

(Assuming no match is washed out)