Under the captaincy of MS Dhoni, the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) suffered a 13-run loss against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the 49th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022. Chasing a stiff total of 174, CSK could manage only 160/8 in 20 overs. CSK opener, Devon Conway scored a fine half-century but apart from him, no other CSK batter managed to contribute. Ruturaj Gaikwad too had an average outing, stroking 28 off 23 balls. But it was not enough.
Current and former captains MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja also had a forgettable outing, meaning CSK did not have finishers in the end. CSK now has 6 points from 10 games in IPL 2022. They can, at most, reach the tally of 14 points. With one team at 14 already and the two teams at 12 and 10 respectively, there is no denying the fact that CSK is theoretically out of contention to reach the playoffs.
There are a lot of permutations and combinations through which CSK can still qualify and MS Dhoni knows that these ifs and buts are hard to fall into place. CSK need to hope the remaining teams get stuck at 14 points and then they have a good NRR to stand a chance to qualify. However, they will need to win all remaining games by big margins as well.
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Next, the CSK fans will be hoping that RCB will lose their remaining three matches and at the same time, Delhi Capitals (DC) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) do not win more than two matches each. Either Sunrisers Hyderabad or Punjab Kings will have 14 points each at the end of the league stage, and then if CSK have a good net run rate, they can qualify.
A Twitter user shared the exact playoffs scenario for Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2022:
This is how CSK can still make it for playoffs pic.twitter.com/ADVaGlOzm0
— Div ➐ (@div_yumm) May 4, 2022
Coming back to the game between RCB and CSK, Bangalore ended their losing streak by beating CSK courtesy of a team effort. RCB won against Chennai Super Kings by 13 runs with a brilliant collective effort. CSK won the toss and opted to bowl first considering the possibility of the dew factor affecting the game in the second innings.
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RCB started well as they scored 57/0 in the powerplay. Mahipal Lomror played a fiery knock in the middle over the innings after the dismissal of both the openers and he was the highest scorer for the team with 42 runs from 27 balls. The team posted a total of 173/8 in the end.
Defending the target, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway started off well but after Ruturaj’s dismissal on a team total of 54, CSK kept on losing wickets regularly. Harshal Patel was brilliant at the back end of the innings as he scalped three crucial wickets to ensure a victory for the team. RCB is now placed the fourth in the points table with 12 points.
