File photo of MS Dhoni (right) with MI skipper Rohit Sharma.
Chennai Super Kings did a favour to their arch-rivals Mumbai Indians on Thursday when their win against Kolkata Knight Riders in Dubai meant MI became the first team to qualify for play-offs in IPL 2020.
The situation became possible after KKR's six-wicket loss on the night meant, they won't be able to reach 16-point haul this season with 12 points in 13 games. At the moment, only table-toppers Mumbai Indians have 16 points in their kitty with 2 of their 14 matches left while only three teams apart from them are capable of matching them on points table or go beyond them.
The other three teams capable of doing that are Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Capitals (14 points in 12 games each) and Kings XI Punjab (12 points in 12 games).
However, Mi still will look to win at least one of their remaining two games as the race for the top two spot or qualifier 1 remains wide open with RCB and DC two points apart at the moment.
The defeat for KKR did more favour to KXIP as now they have some breathing space with an extra match in hand compared to the Kolkata outfit.
This also will make sixth- and seventh-placed Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals (both have 10 points from 12 games) hopeful as the duo will now look to win their remaining two matches to have a haul of 14 points and hope that KKR and KXIP slip-up in their remaining games.
