The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are having another up-and-down season, but mostly it’s been down so far with 3 wins in 9 matches, and looking like they are not going to make it to the playoffs again.
After 4 consecutive victories in the middle of the season, they had bounced back with a brilliant team victory over RCB, winning the game at the M. Chinnaswamy stadium by 21 runs. However, in the next game they were thrashed by a Vijay Shankar special and lost to Gujarat Titans.
The dream of Nitish Rana‘s side of making it to the top 4 looks a distant dream, and will need a miracle in the second half of the tournament – as they had in 2021 – to finish in the top 4. They are currently at the 8th position with 6 points in 9 games.
In the absence of Shreyas Iyer and Andre Russell misfiring their batting had been disappointing. Jason Roy’s arrival and his two consecutive blistering half-centuries vs CSK and RCB have boosted their opening wors. More poor has been their bowling, in particular in the powerplay. Their pacers have largely looked toothless. And teir first two wins – against RCB in Kolkata and Gujarat Titans – came on the back of freak, once-in-a-lifetime batting performances from Shardul Thakur and Rinku Singh.
How can KKR still qualify for playoffs in IPL 2023?
Yes, KKR, who have 6 points in 9 matches, are still alive in the playoff race, mathematically. But their chances of finishing in the top 4 are slim. KKR need to win all of their remaining 5 matches to make a strong contention of the playoffs.
Let’s go back to the 10-team IPL 2022 tournament to see what is the least amount of points for which a team can qualify in the playoffs.
In the 10-team IPL 2022, the team at the 4th spot to reach the playoffs last year – RCB – had 16 points while DC and PBKS with 14 points each just missed the playoffs. A win for both of them would have pipped them over RCB because of their better NRR.
So, while KKR are still not eliminated from the playoff contention, they need to win 5 out of their remaining 5 matches to contendly strongly for a top 4 spot.
Now, it’s not impossible and they will have to produce a sensational second half of the league phase as they did in IPL 2021 when they were down in the doldrums in the first half, but Venkatesh Iyer inspired them to a playoff spot in the second half when the tournament shifted to the UAE.
Their next match is against another struggling team, Sunrisers Hyderabad.
