Is Mumbai Indians out of IPL 2022: How can MI qualify for IPL 2022 playoffs?

Is Mumbai Indians out of IPL 2022: The Rohit Sharma-led side are placed ninth at the points table after yet another loss in IPL 2022.

During the 18th match of the ongoing 15th season of the Indian Premier League at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Mumbai, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) defeated the Mumbai Indians (MI) by 7 wickets, to register their third consecutive win of the season.

Five-time IPL champions MI, on the other hand, have now lost their fourth consecutive match in the ongoing season, and are yet to get off the mark with a win under their belt.

After being invited to bat first post losing the Toss, MI opening batters – skipper Rohit Sharma (26 off 15) and Ishan Kishan (26 off 28) got off to a decent enough start, posting 49 on the board in the Powerplay.

However, post Rohit’s dismissal in the very next Over, MI witnessed a shameful collapse, and quickly found themselves tottering at 62/5 after 10.1 Overs.

With half their side down, all hopes now lay on Suryakumar Yadav to take them to a decent enough total for their bowlers to have a shy at.

And Yadav did oblige, as he, alongside Jaydev Unadkat (13* off 14) stitched together a 72-run partnership off 41 deliveries for the 7th wicket, while smashing 71 runs in the last five Overs, to post 151/6 on the scoreboard.

Suryakumar, remained unbeaten at 68 off 37 deliveries, with the assistance of 5 Fours and 6 Sixes.

In reply, the RCB batters, led by the Southpaw Anuj Rawat (66 off 47) and Virat Kohli (48 off 36) nailed the chase with utmost precision, to take their side home by 7 wickets, with nine deliveries to spare.

Is Mumbai Indians out of IPL 2022

Shockingly enough for the fans, the top two franchises in CSK and MI, who have lifted the IPL titles a combined total of 9 times in the 14 complete seasons, have both lost all their initial four matches of the season, and are the only two teams so far to not register a victory under their name as yet.

Still early stages in the tournament though, the two champions sides are not yet out of the Playoffs race, but have surely made lives difficult for themselves en route to that journey.

With a total of 14 league matches to be played by each of the ten franchises in the ongoing season, both MI and CSK would now have to win 8 off their remaining 10 matches to at least make it to the 4^th spot.

While teams, like KKR in IPL 2021, have also made it through to knock out stage with 7 wins (14 points) under their belt, it largely depended on the other teams’ match results to go their way coupled with a better Net Run Rate (NRR) post the completion of the league stage.

However, with an increase in the number of league matches (74 this season as against 60 last year), teams might struggle with mere 7 wins to make it through to the Playoffs.

During the 2011 edition of the IPL – the only other season with 10 partaking teams, KKR finished at the 4th spot only after winning 8 league matches.

Update: Mumbai Indians lose 5th consecutive match in IPL 2022

With MI losing a cliffhanger against Punjab Kings (PBKS) by 12 runs, and thus their 5th consecutive match of the season, their tournament is all but over.

With only 9 league matches remaining, the maximum MI can now collect is 18 points, which would be enough for them to sail through to the Playoffs.

However, one more loss and they would well have to depend on other teams’ match results and NRR to go their way, and with a couple of more losses, they are certain to crash out of the tournament.