IPL knockouts scenarios: Who can finish in top-four and how

Such has been the nature of this year's open-ended season of the Indian Premier League, that five weeks down, none of the teams have sealed a spot in the knockouts yet. All four spots are up for grabs and six teams are contesting for them in the nine remaining matches in the last week. The added incentive of a top-two finish will push teams further in an already high-octane end to the league stage of the tournament. Since the inception of the concept of playoffs, in 2011, only teams finishing first or second in the league have gone on to win the silverware. 

Here's how things stand after the match 47 of IPL 2016 between Mumbai Indians and Delhi Daredevils and what teams need to do to progress further:

Sunrisers Hyderabad (Points 16; NRR +0.400)

Matches left:

Vs Delhi Daredevils, Raipur, 20 May 2016

Vs Kolkata Knight Riders, Kolkata, 22 May 2016

- If they win both their remaining matches, they will definitely finish in the top two.

- If they win at least one of their remaining two games, they will qualify and also have a fair chance of ending in the top two, thanks to their current positive Net Run Rate of 0.400.

- They can still qualify if they lose both their remaining games but whether they end up in the top two will be dependent of the other results.

- The only possible way they can get eliminated is if they lose both their games very badly and miss out on NRR scenario.

Kolkata Knight Riders (Points 14; NRR +0.373)

Matches left:

Vs Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kolkata, 16 May 2016

Vs Gujarat Lions, Kanpur, 19 May 2016

Vs Sunrisers Hyderabad, Kolkata, 22 May 2016

- If they win all their remaining games, they are guaranteed a top-two finish.

- If they win at least two of their three remaining matches, their qualification is confirmed, though final standing will depend on other results.

- They can go through with a single win but it might dent their chances to end in the top-two as SRH, GL and DD can pip them on points.

- In the unlikely case of KKR losing all three remaining games, qualification will boil down to a NRR shootout against other teams with 14 points.

Gujarat Lions (Points 14; NRR -0.747)

Matches left:

Vs Kolkata Knight Riders, Kanpur, 19 May 2016

Vs Mumbai Indians, Kanpur, 21 May 2016

IPL knockouts scenarios: Who can finish in top-four and how

- If they win both their remaining matches, they will definitely qualify and a top-two finish will depend on other results as their net run rate is a dismal -0.747.

- They can go through with a solitary win in their remaining two matches but are almost sure to miss out on the top two berths because of their negative net run rate.

- In the event of them losing both remaining matches, they can go through if Delhi Daredevils lose at least two and Royal Challengers lose one of their remaining games. The margin of these defeats should be very heavy as NRR of Gujarat Lions is a lot lower than that of Delhi and Bangalore.

Mumbai Indians (Points 14; NRR -0.082)

Matches left:

Vs Gujarat Lions, Kanpur, 21 May 2016

- If they lose, the best they can finish is at fourth spot, provided Daredevils lose at least two and Royal Challengers one of their remaining matches. However, the net run rate of Mumbai Indians is below both Daredevils as well as Royal Challengers. Even if they win their game against Lions, their progress will depend on the results of Daredevils and Royal Challengers.

IPL knockouts scenarios: Who can finish in top-four and how

If they win all their remaining games, they are guaranteed qualification but a top-two finish will depend on the results of Sunrisers and Knight Riders in their remaining games © BCCI

Delhi Daredevils (Points 12; NRR -0.038)

Matches left:

Vs Rising Pune Supergiants, Vizag, 17 May 2016

Vs Sun Risers Hyderabad, Raipur, 20 May 2016

Vs Royal Challengers Bangalore, Raipur, 22 May 2016

- If they win all their remaining games, they are guaranteed qualification but a top-two finish will depend on the results of Sunrisers and Knight Riders in their remaining games.

- If they lose at least one of their remaining matches, it might come down to NRR shootout.

- If they lose all their remaining matches, they will be eliminated.

Royal Challengers Bangalore (Points 10; NRR +0.627)

Matches left:

Vs Kolkata Knight Riders, Kolkata, 16 May 2016

Vs Kings XI Punjab, Bangalore, 18 May 2016

Vs Delhi Daredevils, Raipur, 22 May 2016

IPL knockouts scenarios: Who can finish in top-four and how

- The equation is simple as far as Royal Challengers is concerned. Win all three remaining matches by a good margin in order to stay ahead in the NRR battle, in case more teams finish with 16 points.

- If they lose at least one match, their chances will get stifled considerably. However, a good NRR might come to their aid in case of a tie at 14 points.

- If they lose more than one match, they will be eliminated.

Kings XI Punjab (Points 8; NRR -0.371)

Matches left:

Vs Royal Challengers Bangalore, Bangalore, 18 May 2016

Vs Rising Pune Supergiants, Vizag, 21 May 2016

Sunday's loss to Sunrisers signaled the end of another unsuccessful tournament for Kings XI. If they win both their games, they have an outside chance of ending up sixth in the table.

Rising Pune Supergiants (Points 6; NRR -0.078)

Matches left:

Vs Delhi Daredevils, Vizag, 17 May 2016

Vs Kings XI Punjab, Vizag, 21 May 2016

With just six points from 12 matches, Rising Pune Supergiants too are eliminated from the tournament. If they win both their matches, they can finish seventh in the table and thereby keeping up with the tradition of IPL teams based from Pune.