After the Rajasthan Royals’ (RR) win in their match against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has opened up on the qualification scenarios for the last remaining playoff berth. He said that an RR win in their final league game against the Mumbai Indians (MI) will guarantee them a playoff spot as well.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, ‘Aakash Chopra,’ he said, “One team can reach 16 points. That is the Rajasthan Royals. So win the next game, beat Mumbai, and you are through. No one will come close to you because no one can reach 16 points. It’s as simple as that. Two teams can reach 15 points. The Kolkata Knight Riders’ story is simple. They will have to win both games. They have to beat Mumbai and Delhi. If they win both these games, they will reach 15 points. Their hopes can remain alive if they win both, and along with that, Rajasthan lose their last game, and Punjab also lose their last game, because if Punjab win, the net run rate margin is slightly big.”

“They have two matches. So they can improve their net run rate, but can they reach till Punjab? If Punjab win their last match with a slightly big margin, the net run rate gap will become huge. However, both these teams will only come into play when Rajasthan lose their last match,” he further added.

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However, Aakash Chopra also stated that the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and the Delhi Capitals (DC) are virtually out of the IPL 2026 playoffs now.

“If you want to know what about the Chennai Super Kings and the Delhi Capitals, because both those teams can reach 14 points, their stories are almost over. Firstly, it will be difficult for Chennai to beat GT, and assuming they beat them, and Punjab lose, and KKR are also unable to reach 15 points, then only one team will be stuck on 14 points, but their (RR’s) net run rate is better than theirs (CSK’s),” he said.

“Delhi’s net run rate has become so ordinary that they have lost hope. Although they have started winning, they lost hope many days ago. So Delhi is not going anywhere. CSK have an extremely outside chance because to assume Punjab will lose, KKR will not win their next two, Rajasthan will lose, and then the net run rate will go in your favor, it’s going to be a bit of a climb,” Aakash Chopra concluded.