Can SRH Qualify for Playoffs in 2023 IPL?

Two out of the three teams reeling at the bottom of Indian Premier League 2023 points table, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders registered a closely-fought contest at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium tonight.

A nail-biting 5-run victory for Knight Riders came on the back of them successfully defending a 172-run target. Not the easiest of victories by any means, the match went down to the wire with Hyderabad pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1/33 & 5*) needing to hit a last-ball six for a win. Facing spinner Varun Chakravarthy (1/20), the right-handed batter missed a short ball which could’ve been hit for a maximum.

Needing 10 runs to win off eight balls with Abdul Samad (21) in the middle, the match was in SRH’s favour but their last specialist batter missing out on a free-hit in the penultimate over before a last-over dismissal hurt them the most.

If truth be told, captain Aiden Markram (41) scoring at a strike rate of 102.50 throughout his 40-ball innings nullified the impact created by wicket-keeper batter Heinrich Klaasen (36) in the middle overs.

While Chakravarthy bagged his second Player of the Match of the season, pacers Shardul Thakur (2/23) and Vaibhav Arora (2/32) also contributed in a victory on Thursday.

Can SRH Qualify for Playoffs in 2023 IPL?

Sunrisers, who had started this match as the ninth-ranked team with three wins and five losses in front of their name, have now lost their sixth match of the season to further weaken their ninth position.

Considering how they still have five more matches to play, it would be unfair to rule them out of playoffs qualification as this point in time. Although losing six out of nine league matches at this stage of the tournament is not the best of signs for any team, SRH can still turn things around assuming they avoid losses in the matches slated to be played later this month.

UPDATE: SRH have become the second team after Delhi Capitals to get eliminated from IPL 2023.