IPL 2025: Mumbai Indians settle Playoff debate, but race for top-two heats up

The debate for the Indian Premier League (IPL 2025) Playoffs was settled on Wednesday (May 21) after Mumbai Indians crushed Delhi Capitals by 59 runs at the Wankhede Stadium. Playing in an important head-to-head clash, riding on Suryakumar Yadav’s excellent 73-run knock, Mumbai Indians got the better of Delhi Capitals, therefore officially booking their place in the IPL 2025 Playoffs. The focus now turns on the top two teams with a handful of matches still remaining in the league stage of IPL 2025.

Why race for top-two spot heats up?

Finishing in the top-two spot guarantees a place in Qualifier 1, therefore meaning a team can have two opportunities to qualify for the IPL 2025 final. According to the IPL format, teams finishing in the top two spots qualify for Qualifier 1, the winner of which directly books a place in the final, while the loser gets another opportunity to qualify for the summit clash. The loser of Qualifier 1 plays the winner of Eliminator (clash between 3rd and 4th placed sides in the league phase) in Qualifier 2.

Who is in the race for top-two spot?

At the time of writing, Gujarat Titans sit top of the table with 18 points from 12 matches, followed by Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Punjab Kings on 17 points each from the same number of games. RCB and PBKS are separated by Net Run Rate (NRR), meaning the race for the top two could go down to the wire. Mumbai Indians sit fourth with 16 points from 13 matches and can reach a maximum of 18 points.

Gujarat Titans

In pole position, GT play neither of their direct rivals for the top-two spot in the remaining matches of the league phase. This means, if GT win against Lucknow Super Giants (May 22), followed by a win over Chennai Super Kings on Sunday (May 25), they will book their place in the top-two. They could still qualify for Qualifier 1 with a defeat, but will need favours from other sides.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru

Currently in the second spot on NRR, RCB play SunRisers Hyderabad and Lucknow Super Giants in their remaining matches. If they win both their matches and maintain a healthy NRR, they will book their place in Qualifier 1. A defeat for RCB in either match could still see them qualify for Qualifier 1, but they will need favours from other sides and hope PBKS or GT lose at least one of their matches.

Punjab Kings

Sitting in the third spot, PBKS will need to match RCB’s results in their remaining matches to book their place in the top two spots. Technically, they will have to win by a better margin to secure a Qualifier 1 berth as RCB have a better NRR than them. On a fair note, PBKS would need RCB to lose one match and win both their remaining matches to avoid the NRR factor in deciding the Qualifier 1 spots. They play Delhi and Mumbai on Saturday and Monday, respectively, to end the league phase.

Mumbai Indians

The five-time champions booked their place in the IPL 2025 Playoffs on Wednesday with a 59-run win over Delhi. Realistically, Mumbai would need to beat Punjab on Monday and hope they also lose to Delhi on Saturday in the dead rubber clash, thus meaning Shreyas Iyer’s side loses both remaining matches. Mumbai would also need RCB to lose their remaining matches to stand a chance of qualifying for Qualifier 1.