The league stage of the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is done and dusted with Mumbai Indians standing at the top of the points table. All the 8 teams that were part of the league fought hard to reach the playoffs but only the top 4 teams qualified.

Along with Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad have made it to the playoffs while Kolkata Knight Riders got knocked out due to poor NRR. KKR, with -0.21 NRR, stayed at the fifth position of the points table while RCB, with same number of wins stood at 4th position with a better NRR of -0.17.

Except for Mumbai Indians, the journey of all the other teams in this season has been a roller-coaster ride and they witnessed highs and lows in the league stage.

In this article, we tried to rate each team based on their performance in the league stage:

<img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-461391" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Chennai-Super-Kings.jpg" alt="Chennai Super Kings" width="640" height="400" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-461391" class="wp-caption-text">Chennai Super Kings. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)</figcaption>

Coming into this edition of the tournament, the <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/irfan-pathan-opens-up-on-what-ms-dhoni-of-2011-would-tell-ms-dhoni-of-2020/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>MS Dhoni</strong></a>-led Chennai Super Kings were the only team to reach the playoffs in all the seasons they participated in the IPL. They reached the final eight times and won the title thrice in 2010, 2011 and 2018 respectively.

Things didn’t go Chennai’s way this season as they lost the services of their vice-captain Suresh Raina and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh ahead of the season due to personal reasons. CSK though had kick-started their campaign with a win over their arch-rivals Mumbai Indians.

However, injuries to key players during the tournament led to them failing to continue that performance in the remaining matches. CSK was the only team that wasn&#8217;t in contention in the last week of the league stage. They finished 7th on the points table not before registering three consecutive wins to end their campaign.

<img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-460786" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Rajasthan-Royals-3.jpg" alt="Rajasthan Royals" width="640" height="400" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-460786" class="wp-caption-text">Rajasthan Royals. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)</figcaption>

The champions of the inaugural edition of the IPL, Rajasthan Royals came into this season with no expectations to lift the trophy but kick-started their campaign with two wins against the Chennai Super Kings and Kings XI Punjab.

But they found themselves on the wrong side of the results and lost 7 matches in their next nine encounters. With three matches remaining for them in the league stage, they had to win all of them to make it to the playoffs. The Royals managed to win their next two games against Mumbai Indians and KXIP.

But unfortunately, they lost their last match against Kolkata Knight Riders and were knocked out of the tournament. Although they finished last in the points table, the franchise will be happy as they found some young talent in the form of Rahul Tewatia, Riyan Parag and <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/lesser-known-facts-about-rrs-new-young-star-kartik-tyagi/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>Kartik Tyagi</strong></a> and will be looking forward to the next season.

<img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-460430" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Kolkata-Knight-Riders-team.jpg" alt="Kolkata Knight Riders" width="640" height="400" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-460430" class="wp-caption-text">Kolkata Knight Riders. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)</figcaption>

The two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders came into this IPL as favourites to lift the trophy with their star-studded squad. But some of the decisions they made were questionable. Though they managed to win 4 games in the first half of the season and stayed in the hunt to make it to the playoffs.

Then their skipper <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/ipl-2020-kkr-gloveman-dinesh-karthik-takes-a-stunning-catch-to-dismiss-rrs-ben-stokes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>Dinesh Karthik</strong></a> stepped down from captaincy to concentrate on his batting and the responsibility was handed over to England’s World Cup winning captain Eoin Morgan. However, the team&#8217;s fortunes didn&#8217;t change at all and even the experimentation in the line-up continued which led to KKR going down constantly.

In the second half of the tournament, the Kolkata based franchise won only three games and finished their campaign with a win over the Rajasthan Royals. Though they had the same number of points as SRH and RCB, they were knocked out of the tournament due to poor NRR.

<img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-460788" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Kings-XI-Punjab-4.jpg" alt="Kings XI Punjab" width="640" height="400" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-460788" class="wp-caption-text">Kings XI Punjab. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)</figcaption>

The Preity Zinta co-owned franchise, Kings XI Punjab named <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/we-will-be-back-stronger-together-kl-rahul-tweets-after-kxips-exit-from-ipl-2020/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>KL Rahul</strong></a> as their skipper for this season as they traded their previous skipper Ravi Ashwin with Delhi Capitals. KL Rahul was their top run-getter in the previous two editions and continued his good run in the ongoing season also.

The Kings started their campaign with a heart-breaking Super Over loss against Delhi Capitals in their opening encounter and won their next match against RCB in which their skipper scored a magnificent century. But the team lost their winning formulae then and lost five straight matches thereafter. After the first half of the IPL 2020, KXIP were reeling at the bottom of the points table. But they bounced back in the second half with five straight wins and climbed to the 4th spot.

With two matches left for them in the league stage, the Kings XI Punjab were all set to do a Mumbai Indians feat and qualify for the playoffs. But lost their next two matches against Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings and knocked out of the tournament. They are rated higher than KKR as they were placed below them in the points table and lost many nail-baiting contests in the first half and fought very hard in the second half with a positive intent.

4. Royal Challengers Bangalore &#8211; 8/10

<img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-457828" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Royal-Challengers-Bangalore-vs-Kolkata-Knight-Riders-1.jpg" alt="Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kolkata Knight Riders" width="640" height="400" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-457828" class="wp-caption-text">Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kolkata Knight Riders. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)</figcaption>

The Bangalore based franchise, Royal Challengers Bangalore is the most celebrated franchise in the history of the IPL despite having no trophies to their name. The team reached the final three times till now but lost all the three times to Deccan Chargers, Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad.

The <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/heres-how-much-indian-skipper-virat-kohli-earns-in-a-year/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>Virat Kohli</strong></a>-led side started their campaign with a win over their arch rivals Sunrisers Hyderabad and won 7 out of their first 10 encounters and all the cricket experts thought that they will finish at top two of the points table.

But the Bangalore boys fumbled in their next four games and finished the league stage at 4th position on the table with just 14 points. Their two big wins against Kolkata Knight Riders this season ensured them a playoff spot with a better NRR than them.

<img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-461852" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Delhi-Capitals.jpg" alt="Delhi Capitals" width="640" height="400" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-461852" class="wp-caption-text">Delhi Capitals. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)</figcaption>

The Delhi based franchise did a pretty good job in the auction ahead of the season and built a fairly strong team for IPL 2020. They started their campaign with an epic win in the Super Over and constantly were at the top two positions and finished at second position after the conclusion of the league stage.

In their initial 8 matches of this season they won 6 matches and were looked as a strong contender for the first position and the title. But DC lost all the steam in them losing 4 straight matches and found themselves one loss  away from being knocked out of the tournament.

However, they won their last game of the league stage against Royals Challengers Bangalore and finished second in the points table. The <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/ipl-2020-delhi-capitals-dc-achieve-a-unique-record-after-finishing-second-in-points-table/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>Delhi Capitals</strong></a> are looking lethal with both bat and ball and are a strong contender to lift the trophy this season.

<img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-459856" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Sunrisers-Hyderabad-6.jpg" alt="Sunrisers Hyderabad" width="640" height="400" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-459856" class="wp-caption-text">Sunrisers Hyderabad. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)</figcaption>

The 2016 IPL winning skipper <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/david-warner-to-reveal-actual-details-of-infamous-ball-tampering-scandal-in-a-book/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>David Warner</strong></a> was back to his captaincy duties after two years and led his team from the front to the playoffs. The Sunrisers lost their Australian all-rounder Mitchell Marsh in their first match against RCB and Bhuvneshwar Kumar later.

But the team bounced back tremendously by using their limited resources and finished third on the points table. In a must-win situation, SRH won against all the three top sides of the tournament in their last three matches and entered the playoffs in a dramatic way.

The inclusion of Wriddhiman Saha and Jason Holder in the latter stage of the IPL turned out to be a golden move by the franchise as the duo contributed fairly in the team&#8217;s success at the end of the league stage.

<img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-461025" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Mumbai-Indians-5.jpg" alt="Mumbai Indians" width="640" height="400" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-461025" class="wp-caption-text">Mumbai Indians. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)</figcaption>

The defending champions Mumbai Indians started the season with a loss against their rivals Chennai Super Kings but bounced back straight from the next match against Kolkata Knight Riders and finished as the table toppers and became the first team in IPL 2020 to qualify for the playoffs.

In their 9th game of the season against KXIP which they lost in the second super over, their captain <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/great-news-for-indian-cricket-that-rohit-sharma-is-fit-sunil-gavaskar/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>Rohit Sharma</strong></a> got injured and the captaincy was handed over to their vice-captain Kieron Pollard later. Pollard did a decent job as a captain and won 3 games out of 4 matches he captained.

Rohit Sharma came back to their side in their last league and proved his fitness. Though they lost the game by 10 wickets, it didn&#8217;t matter much to the table toppers. The Mumbai based franchise are the best performers of the league stage and are just two wins away from defending the trophy.

<strong><em>~Written by Uday Gurugubelli</em></strong>

<p align="JUSTIFY">The league stage of the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is done and dusted with Mumbai Indians standing at the top of the points table. All the 8 teams that were part of the league fought hard to reach the playoffs but only the top 4 teams qualified.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">Along with Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad have made it to the playoffs while Kolkata Knight Riders got knocked out due to poor NRR. KKR, with -0.21 NRR, stayed at the fifth position of the points table while RCB, with same number of wins stood at 4th position with a better NRR of -0.17.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">Except for Mumbai Indians, the journey of all the other teams in this season has been a roller-coaster ride and they witnessed highs and lows in the league stage.</p>
<h3 align="JUSTIFY">In this article, we tried to rate each team based on their performance in the league stage:</h3>
<h3 align="JUSTIFY">8. Chennai Super Kings – 6/10</h3>
<figure id="attachment_461391" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-461391" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0;"><amp-img class="size-full wp-image-461391" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Chennai-Super-Kings.jpg" alt="Chennai Super Kings" width="640" height="400" layout="responsive" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0;"></amp-img><figcaption id="caption-attachment-461391" class="wp-caption-text">Chennai Super Kings. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)</figcaption></figure>
<p align="JUSTIFY">Coming into this edition of the tournament, the <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/irfan-pathan-opens-up-on-what-ms-dhoni-of-2011-would-tell-ms-dhoni-of-2020/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>MS Dhoni</strong></a>-led Chennai Super Kings were the only team to reach the playoffs in all the seasons they participated in the IPL. They reached the final eight times and won the title thrice in 2010, 2011 and 2018 respectively.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">Things didn’t go Chennai’s way this season as they lost the services of their vice-captain Suresh Raina and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh ahead of the season due to personal reasons. CSK though had kick-started their campaign with a win over their arch-rivals Mumbai Indians.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">However, injuries to key players during the tournament led to them failing to continue that performance in the remaining matches. CSK was the only team that wasn’t in contention in the last week of the league stage. They finished 7th on the points table not before registering three consecutive wins to end their campaign.</p>
<h3 align="JUSTIFY">7. Rajasthan Royals – 6.5/10</h3>
<figure id="attachment_460786" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-460786" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0;"><amp-img class="size-full wp-image-460786" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Rajasthan-Royals-3.jpg" alt="Rajasthan Royals" width="640" height="400" layout="responsive" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0;"></amp-img><figcaption id="caption-attachment-460786" class="wp-caption-text">Rajasthan Royals. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)</figcaption></figure>
<p align="JUSTIFY">The champions of the inaugural edition of the IPL, Rajasthan Royals came into this season with no expectations to lift the trophy but kick-started their campaign with two wins against the Chennai Super Kings and Kings XI Punjab.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">But they found themselves on the wrong side of the results and lost 7 matches in their next nine encounters. With three matches remaining for them in the league stage, they had to win all of them to make it to the playoffs. The Royals managed to win their next two games against Mumbai Indians and KXIP.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">But unfortunately, they lost their last match against Kolkata Knight Riders and were knocked out of the tournament. Although they finished last in the points table, the franchise will be happy as they found some young talent in the form of Rahul Tewatia, Riyan Parag and <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/lesser-known-facts-about-rrs-new-young-star-kartik-tyagi/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>Kartik Tyagi</strong></a> and will be looking forward to the next season.</p>
<h3 align="JUSTIFY">6. Kolkata Knight Riders – 7/10</h3>
<figure id="attachment_460430" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-460430" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0;"><amp-img class="size-full wp-image-460430" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Kolkata-Knight-Riders-team.jpg" alt="Kolkata Knight Riders" width="640" height="400" layout="responsive" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0;"></amp-img><figcaption id="caption-attachment-460430" class="wp-caption-text">Kolkata Knight Riders. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)</figcaption></figure>
<p align="JUSTIFY">The two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders came into this IPL as favourites to lift the trophy with their star-studded squad. But some of the decisions they made were questionable. Though they managed to win 4 games in the first half of the season and stayed in the hunt to make it to the playoffs.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">Then their skipper <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/ipl-2020-kkr-gloveman-dinesh-karthik-takes-a-stunning-catch-to-dismiss-rrs-ben-stokes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>Dinesh Karthik</strong></a> stepped down from captaincy to concentrate on his batting and the responsibility was handed over to England’s World Cup winning captain Eoin Morgan. However, the team’s fortunes didn’t change at all and even the experimentation in the line-up continued which led to KKR going down constantly.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">In the second half of the tournament, the Kolkata based franchise won only three games and finished their campaign with a win over the Rajasthan Royals. Though they had the same number of points as SRH and RCB, they were knocked out of the tournament due to poor NRR.</p>
<h3 align="JUSTIFY">5. Kings XI Punjab – 7.5/10</h3>
<figure id="attachment_460788" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-460788" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0;"><amp-img class="size-full wp-image-460788" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Kings-XI-Punjab-4.jpg" alt="Kings XI Punjab" width="640" height="400" layout="responsive" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0;"></amp-img><figcaption id="caption-attachment-460788" class="wp-caption-text">Kings XI Punjab. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)</figcaption></figure>
<p align="JUSTIFY">The Preity Zinta co-owned franchise, Kings XI Punjab named <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/we-will-be-back-stronger-together-kl-rahul-tweets-after-kxips-exit-from-ipl-2020/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>KL Rahul</strong></a> as their skipper for this season as they traded their previous skipper Ravi Ashwin with Delhi Capitals. KL Rahul was their top run-getter in the previous two editions and continued his good run in the ongoing season also.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">The Kings started their campaign with a heart-breaking Super Over loss against Delhi Capitals in their opening encounter and won their next match against RCB in which their skipper scored a magnificent century. But the team lost their winning formulae then and lost five straight matches thereafter. After the first half of the IPL 2020, KXIP were reeling at the bottom of the points table. But they bounced back in the second half with five straight wins and climbed to the 4th spot.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">With two matches left for them in the league stage, the Kings XI Punjab were all set to do a Mumbai Indians feat and qualify for the playoffs. But lost their next two matches against Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings and knocked out of the tournament. They are rated higher than KKR as they were placed below them in the points table and lost many nail-baiting contests in the first half and fought very hard in the second half with a positive intent.</p>
<h3 align="JUSTIFY">4. Royal Challengers Bangalore – 8/10</h3>
<figure id="attachment_457828" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-457828" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0;"><amp-img class="size-full wp-image-457828" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Royal-Challengers-Bangalore-vs-Kolkata-Knight-Riders-1.jpg" alt="Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kolkata Knight Riders" width="640" height="400" layout="responsive" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0;"></amp-img><figcaption id="caption-attachment-457828" class="wp-caption-text">Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kolkata Knight Riders. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)</figcaption></figure>
<p align="JUSTIFY">The Bangalore based franchise, Royal Challengers Bangalore is the most celebrated franchise in the history of the IPL despite having no trophies to their name. The team reached the final three times till now but lost all the three times to Deccan Chargers, Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">The <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/heres-how-much-indian-skipper-virat-kohli-earns-in-a-year/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>Virat Kohli</strong></a>-led side started their campaign with a win over their arch rivals Sunrisers Hyderabad and won 7 out of their first 10 encounters and all the cricket experts thought that they will finish at top two of the points table.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">But the Bangalore boys fumbled in their next four games and finished the league stage at 4th position on the table with just 14 points. Their two big wins against Kolkata Knight Riders this season ensured them a playoff spot with a better NRR than them.</p>
<h3 align="JUSTIFY">3. Delhi Capitals – 8.5/10</h3>
<figure id="attachment_461852" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-461852" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0;"><amp-img class="size-full wp-image-461852" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Delhi-Capitals.jpg" alt="Delhi Capitals" width="640" height="400" layout="responsive" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0;"></amp-img><figcaption id="caption-attachment-461852" class="wp-caption-text">Delhi Capitals. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)</figcaption></figure>
<p align="JUSTIFY">The Delhi based franchise did a pretty good job in the auction ahead of the season and built a fairly strong team for IPL 2020. They started their campaign with an epic win in the Super Over and constantly were at the top two positions and finished at second position after the conclusion of the league stage.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">In their initial 8 matches of this season they won 6 matches and were looked as a strong contender for the first position and the title. But DC lost all the steam in them losing 4 straight matches and found themselves one loss&nbsp; away from being knocked out of the tournament.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">However, they won their last game of the league stage against Royals Challengers Bangalore and finished second in the points table. The <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/ipl-2020-delhi-capitals-dc-achieve-a-unique-record-after-finishing-second-in-points-table/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>Delhi Capitals</strong></a> are looking lethal with both bat and ball and are a strong contender to lift the trophy this season.</p>
<h3 align="JUSTIFY">2. Sunrisers Hyderabad – 9/10</h3>
<figure id="attachment_459856" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-459856" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0;"><amp-img class="size-full wp-image-459856" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Sunrisers-Hyderabad-6.jpg" alt="Sunrisers Hyderabad" width="640" height="400" layout="responsive" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0;"></amp-img><figcaption id="caption-attachment-459856" class="wp-caption-text">Sunrisers Hyderabad. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)</figcaption></figure>
<p align="JUSTIFY">The 2016 IPL winning skipper <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/david-warner-to-reveal-actual-details-of-infamous-ball-tampering-scandal-in-a-book/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>David Warner</strong></a> was back to his captaincy duties after two years and led his team from the front to the playoffs. The Sunrisers lost their Australian all-rounder Mitchell Marsh in their first match against RCB and Bhuvneshwar Kumar later.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">But the team bounced back tremendously by using their limited resources and finished third on the points table. In a must-win situation, SRH won against all the three top sides of the tournament in their last three matches and entered the playoffs in a dramatic way.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">The inclusion of Wriddhiman Saha and Jason Holder in the latter stage of the IPL turned out to be a golden move by the franchise as the duo contributed fairly in the team’s success at the end of the league stage.</p>
<h3 align="JUSTIFY">1. Mumbai Indians – 9.5/10</h3>
<figure id="attachment_461025" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-461025" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0;"><amp-img class="size-full wp-image-461025" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Mumbai-Indians-5.jpg" alt="Mumbai Indians" width="640" height="400" layout="responsive" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0;"></amp-img><figcaption id="caption-attachment-461025" class="wp-caption-text">Mumbai Indians. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)</figcaption></figure>
<p align="JUSTIFY">The defending champions Mumbai Indians started the season with a loss against their rivals Chennai Super Kings but bounced back straight from the next match against Kolkata Knight Riders and finished as the table toppers and became the first team in IPL 2020 to qualify for the playoffs.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">In their 9th game of the season against KXIP which they lost in the second super over, their captain <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/great-news-for-indian-cricket-that-rohit-sharma-is-fit-sunil-gavaskar/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>Rohit Sharma</strong></a> got injured and the captaincy was handed over to their vice-captain Kieron Pollard later. Pollard did a decent job as a captain and won 3 games out of 4 matches he captained.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">Rohit Sharma came back to their side in their last league and proved his fitness. Though they lost the game by 10 wickets, it didn’t matter much to the table toppers. The Mumbai based franchise are the best performers of the league stage and are just two wins away from defending the trophy.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY"><strong><em>~Written by Uday Gurugubelli</em></strong></p>

<p align="JUSTIFY">The league stage of the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is done and dusted with Mumbai Indians standing at the top of the points table. All the 8 teams that were part of the league fought hard to reach the playoffs but only the top 4 teams qualified.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">Along with Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad have made it to the playoffs while Kolkata Knight Riders got knocked out due to poor NRR. KKR, with -0.21 NRR, stayed at the fifth position of the points table while RCB, with same number of wins stood at 4th position with a better NRR of -0.17.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">Except for Mumbai Indians, the journey of all the other teams in this season has been a roller-coaster ride and they witnessed highs and lows in the league stage.</p>
<h3 align="JUSTIFY">In this article, we tried to rate each team based on their performance in the league stage:</h3>
<h3 align="JUSTIFY">8. Chennai Super Kings &#8211; 6/10</h3>
<figure id="attachment_461391" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-461391" style="width: 640px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-461391" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Chennai-Super-Kings.jpg" alt="Chennai Super Kings" width="640" height="400" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-461391" class="wp-caption-text">Chennai Super Kings. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)</figcaption></figure>
<p align="JUSTIFY">Coming into this edition of the tournament, the <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/irfan-pathan-opens-up-on-what-ms-dhoni-of-2011-would-tell-ms-dhoni-of-2020/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>MS Dhoni</strong></a>-led Chennai Super Kings were the only team to reach the playoffs in all the seasons they participated in the IPL. They reached the final eight times and won the title thrice in 2010, 2011 and 2018 respectively.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">Things didn’t go Chennai’s way this season as they lost the services of their vice-captain Suresh Raina and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh ahead of the season due to personal reasons. CSK though had kick-started their campaign with a win over their arch-rivals Mumbai Indians.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">However, injuries to key players during the tournament led to them failing to continue that performance in the remaining matches. CSK was the only team that wasn&#8217;t in contention in the last week of the league stage. They finished 7th on the points table not before registering three consecutive wins to end their campaign.</p>
<h3 align="JUSTIFY">7. Rajasthan Royals &#8211; 6.5/10</h3>
<figure id="attachment_460786" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-460786" style="width: 640px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-460786" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Rajasthan-Royals-3.jpg" alt="Rajasthan Royals" width="640" height="400" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-460786" class="wp-caption-text">Rajasthan Royals. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)</figcaption></figure>
<p align="JUSTIFY">The champions of the inaugural edition of the IPL, Rajasthan Royals came into this season with no expectations to lift the trophy but kick-started their campaign with two wins against the Chennai Super Kings and Kings XI Punjab.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">But they found themselves on the wrong side of the results and lost 7 matches in their next nine encounters. With three matches remaining for them in the league stage, they had to win all of them to make it to the playoffs. The Royals managed to win their next two games against Mumbai Indians and KXIP.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">But unfortunately, they lost their last match against Kolkata Knight Riders and were knocked out of the tournament. Although they finished last in the points table, the franchise will be happy as they found some young talent in the form of Rahul Tewatia, Riyan Parag and <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/lesser-known-facts-about-rrs-new-young-star-kartik-tyagi/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>Kartik Tyagi</strong></a> and will be looking forward to the next season.</p>
<h3 align="JUSTIFY">6. Kolkata Knight Riders &#8211; 7/10</h3>
<figure id="attachment_460430" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-460430" style="width: 640px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-460430" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Kolkata-Knight-Riders-team.jpg" alt="Kolkata Knight Riders" width="640" height="400" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-460430" class="wp-caption-text">Kolkata Knight Riders. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)</figcaption></figure>
<p align="JUSTIFY">The two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders came into this IPL as favourites to lift the trophy with their star-studded squad. But some of the decisions they made were questionable. Though they managed to win 4 games in the first half of the season and stayed in the hunt to make it to the playoffs.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">Then their skipper <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/ipl-2020-kkr-gloveman-dinesh-karthik-takes-a-stunning-catch-to-dismiss-rrs-ben-stokes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>Dinesh Karthik</strong></a> stepped down from captaincy to concentrate on his batting and the responsibility was handed over to England’s World Cup winning captain Eoin Morgan. However, the team&#8217;s fortunes didn&#8217;t change at all and even the experimentation in the line-up continued which led to KKR going down constantly.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">In the second half of the tournament, the Kolkata based franchise won only three games and finished their campaign with a win over the Rajasthan Royals. Though they had the same number of points as SRH and RCB, they were knocked out of the tournament due to poor NRR.</p>
<h3 align="JUSTIFY">5. Kings XI Punjab &#8211; 7.5/10</h3>
<figure id="attachment_460788" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-460788" style="width: 640px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-460788" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Kings-XI-Punjab-4.jpg" alt="Kings XI Punjab" width="640" height="400" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-460788" class="wp-caption-text">Kings XI Punjab. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)</figcaption></figure>
<p align="JUSTIFY">The Preity Zinta co-owned franchise, Kings XI Punjab named <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/we-will-be-back-stronger-together-kl-rahul-tweets-after-kxips-exit-from-ipl-2020/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>KL Rahul</strong></a> as their skipper for this season as they traded their previous skipper Ravi Ashwin with Delhi Capitals. KL Rahul was their top run-getter in the previous two editions and continued his good run in the ongoing season also.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">The Kings started their campaign with a heart-breaking Super Over loss against Delhi Capitals in their opening encounter and won their next match against RCB in which their skipper scored a magnificent century. But the team lost their winning formulae then and lost five straight matches thereafter. After the first half of the IPL 2020, KXIP were reeling at the bottom of the points table. But they bounced back in the second half with five straight wins and climbed to the 4th spot.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">With two matches left for them in the league stage, the Kings XI Punjab were all set to do a Mumbai Indians feat and qualify for the playoffs. But lost their next two matches against Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings and knocked out of the tournament. They are rated higher than KKR as they were placed below them in the points table and lost many nail-baiting contests in the first half and fought very hard in the second half with a positive intent.</p>
<h3 align="JUSTIFY">4. Royal Challengers Bangalore &#8211; 8/10</h3>
<figure id="attachment_457828" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-457828" style="width: 640px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-457828" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Royal-Challengers-Bangalore-vs-Kolkata-Knight-Riders-1.jpg" alt="Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kolkata Knight Riders" width="640" height="400" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-457828" class="wp-caption-text">Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kolkata Knight Riders. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)</figcaption></figure>
<p align="JUSTIFY">The Bangalore based franchise, Royal Challengers Bangalore is the most celebrated franchise in the history of the IPL despite having no trophies to their name. The team reached the final three times till now but lost all the three times to Deccan Chargers, Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">The <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/heres-how-much-indian-skipper-virat-kohli-earns-in-a-year/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>Virat Kohli</strong></a>-led side started their campaign with a win over their arch rivals Sunrisers Hyderabad and won 7 out of their first 10 encounters and all the cricket experts thought that they will finish at top two of the points table.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">But the Bangalore boys fumbled in their next four games and finished the league stage at 4th position on the table with just 14 points. Their two big wins against Kolkata Knight Riders this season ensured them a playoff spot with a better NRR than them.</p>
<h3 align="JUSTIFY">3. Delhi Capitals &#8211; 8.5/10</h3>
<figure id="attachment_461852" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-461852" style="width: 640px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-461852" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Delhi-Capitals.jpg" alt="Delhi Capitals" width="640" height="400" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-461852" class="wp-caption-text">Delhi Capitals. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)</figcaption></figure>
<p align="JUSTIFY">The Delhi based franchise did a pretty good job in the auction ahead of the season and built a fairly strong team for IPL 2020. They started their campaign with an epic win in the Super Over and constantly were at the top two positions and finished at second position after the conclusion of the league stage.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">In their initial 8 matches of this season they won 6 matches and were looked as a strong contender for the first position and the title. But DC lost all the steam in them losing 4 straight matches and found themselves one loss  away from being knocked out of the tournament.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">However, they won their last game of the league stage against Royals Challengers Bangalore and finished second in the points table. The <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/ipl-2020-delhi-capitals-dc-achieve-a-unique-record-after-finishing-second-in-points-table/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>Delhi Capitals</strong></a> are looking lethal with both bat and ball and are a strong contender to lift the trophy this season.</p>
<h3 align="JUSTIFY">2. Sunrisers Hyderabad &#8211; 9/10</h3>
<figure id="attachment_459856" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-459856" style="width: 640px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-459856" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Sunrisers-Hyderabad-6.jpg" alt="Sunrisers Hyderabad" width="640" height="400" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-459856" class="wp-caption-text">Sunrisers Hyderabad. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)</figcaption></figure>
<p align="JUSTIFY">The 2016 IPL winning skipper <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/david-warner-to-reveal-actual-details-of-infamous-ball-tampering-scandal-in-a-book/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>David Warner</strong></a> was back to his captaincy duties after two years and led his team from the front to the playoffs. The Sunrisers lost their Australian all-rounder Mitchell Marsh in their first match against RCB and Bhuvneshwar Kumar later.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">But the team bounced back tremendously by using their limited resources and finished third on the points table. In a must-win situation, SRH won against all the three top sides of the tournament in their last three matches and entered the playoffs in a dramatic way.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">The inclusion of Wriddhiman Saha and Jason Holder in the latter stage of the IPL turned out to be a golden move by the franchise as the duo contributed fairly in the team&#8217;s success at the end of the league stage.</p>
<h3 align="JUSTIFY">1. Mumbai Indians &#8211; 9.5/10</h3>
<figure id="attachment_461025" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-461025" style="width: 640px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-461025" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Mumbai-Indians-5.jpg" alt="Mumbai Indians" width="640" height="400" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-461025" class="wp-caption-text">Mumbai Indians. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)</figcaption></figure>
<p align="JUSTIFY">The defending champions Mumbai Indians started the season with a loss against their rivals Chennai Super Kings but bounced back straight from the next match against Kolkata Knight Riders and finished as the table toppers and became the first team in IPL 2020 to qualify for the playoffs.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">In their 9th game of the season against KXIP which they lost in the second super over, their captain <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/great-news-for-indian-cricket-that-rohit-sharma-is-fit-sunil-gavaskar/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>Rohit Sharma</strong></a> got injured and the captaincy was handed over to their vice-captain Kieron Pollard later. Pollard did a decent job as a captain and won 3 games out of 4 matches he captained.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">Rohit Sharma came back to their side in their last league and proved his fitness. Though they lost the game by 10 wickets, it didn&#8217;t matter much to the table toppers. The Mumbai based franchise are the best performers of the league stage and are just two wins away from defending the trophy.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY"><strong><em>~Written by Uday Gurugubelli</em></strong></p>

IPL 2020 witnessed the most intense competition ever between the teams to make it to the playoffs.

IPL 2020: Rating the teams based on their performance in the league stage

Here we rate all the 8 teams based on their performance in the league stage of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020.