IPL 2024 Qualification Scenarios: How can Royal Challengers Bengaluru qualify for playoffs after losing to KKR?

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) suffered their sixth straight loss in the Indian Premier League 2024 (IPL 2024) against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by one run on Sunday, April 21 at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. After being put in to bat first, KKR posted a humongous score of 222/6 in their allotted 20 overs courtesy of a half-century from captain Shreyas Iyer (50 off 36) and a quick-fire knock by Philip Salt (48 off 14).

In reply, RCB came mighty close to chasing down the target as Will Jacks (55 off 32) and Rajat Patidar (52 off 23) scored brilliant half-centuries. Following their dismissals, Dinesh Karthik (25 off 18) and Karn Sharma (20 off 7) tried their best to take their team over the line but they eventually one run short.

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Following their loss, the Faf du Plessis-led side continues to struggle at the bottom of the points table with just one win from eight matches having two points to their name. The road ahead in the tournament gets even tougher for the three-time runner-ups as they face the high-flying Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in their next fixture on 25^th April, followed by last season’s runners-up Gujarat Titans (GT) back-to-back on 28^th April and 4^th May respectively.

RCB will further lock horns with the struggling Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Delhi Capitals (DC) in back-to-back fixtures on May 09 and 12 respectively. They will finally end the league stage against the southern rivals Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on May 18. Going forward, RCB cannot afford to lose even a single game as they still have an outside chance of making it to the playoffs.

RCB can earn a maximum of 14 points by winning their remaining games

The Bengaluru-based franchise can still finish with 14 points on the points table if they manage to win all of their remaining fixtures. In such a scenario, their playoffs chances will heavily rely on other teams' results, whom they will also have to beat on the net run rate which is currently the second worst among all ten teams at -1.046. 

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Hence, RCB cannot afford any more losses in the IPL 2024 or else will get knocked out of the tournament completely. Having one of the biggest fanbases in the league, the franchise requires its fans’ support now more than ever as they try to make a comeback for the ages in the history of the IPL.