IPL 9: What Delhi, Bangalore and other teams need to do to enter IPL 2016 playoffs

With this year’s Indian Premier League reaching the business end of the tournament, the battle for playoff berths is heating up. Six teams remain in the running, with only Kings XI Punjab and the Rising Pune Supergiants unable to make the finals. The top two teams will play off in a qualifier for a spot in the final on May 24, before the teams who finish third and fourth meet in an eliminator match scheduled on May 25. The loser of the qualifier will then meet the winner of the eliminator in Delhi on May 27, for a spot in the final in Bangalore two days later.

Sunrisers Hyderabad are almost certain to make the play-offs this season and will be able to confirm their semi-final spot if they defeat Zaheer Khan’s team in their next outing. Despite a loss to RCB on Monday, Kolkata Knight Riders are second on the points table with 14 points from 12 matches, but still need to win both their remaining matches to be guaranteed a finals berth.

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Defending champions, Mumbai Indians, have just the one match left to play and have to win that and hope to remain ahead of other teams on NRR to make it to the top four. Bangalore rose to fifth after their win over Kolkata yesterday and have won four of their last five, but they will need further heroics from Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle to win their final two matches and book a place in the play-offs.

With three matches in hand, Delhi Daredevils remain in a good position to push for the top four, but will need to win all three matches, knocking off Warner’s in-form Sunrisers in the process. Gujarat Lions need to win their remaining two matches to pass the group stage as well.

Kings XI Punjab are out of the contention for the playoffs after having lost their last match against Sunrisers by 7 wickets. They will be looking for consolation wins in their final two matches. Lastly, Dhoni-led Rising Pune Supergiants have never got going in this year’s IPL and have no chance to make it to the playoffs.