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Punjab Kings vs Rajasthan Royals, 66th Match – IPL-2023
In the 66th match of IPL 2023 on Friday night, Sanju Samson-led Rajasthan Royals defeated Punjab Kings by 4 wickets. After this win, RR has reached the 5th position in the points table with 14 points. With Rajasthan having played all their league stage matches, their hopes of making it to the playoffs now hinge on Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore. With this win for Sanju Samson’s side, MI have lost a place in the points table, while in terms of net run rate, RCB must have been beaten. However, the fate of both these teams is still in their hands.
First of all let’s talk about Royal Challengers Bangalore led by Faf du Plessis. RCB’s team is fourth in the points table with 14 points from 13 matches. Bangalore has a net run rate of 0.180. At the same time, Rajasthan Royals are now on 5th position with 14 points after winning over Punjab and their net run rate is 0.148. In terms of net run rate, RR are now only 0.032 behind RCB.
In such a situation, if RCB manages to win their last match against Gujarat, then it will not make any difference and the team will directly qualify for the playoffs. On the other hand, if the team loses, then they have to keep in mind that they do not lose to Gujarat by more than 5 runs, otherwise their net run rate will be less than Rajasthan Royals. With this, RCB will have to pray for the defeat of MI as well.
Coming to Mumbai Indians, MI still have a chance to reach 16 points. If Mumbai wins their last match against Sunrisers Hyderabad, then it can become a contender for the playoffs. On the other hand, if they have to face defeat, then their hopes of reaching the playoffs will end. In fact, MI has a net run rate of -0.128 which is much worse than RCB and RR.
