IPL 2021: What should MI do to pip KKR to the final playoff spot?

If Mumbai Indians (MI)'s dominating eight-wicket win over the Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Tuesday brewed the excitement of a tasty finish to IPL 2021, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)'s even heavier trouncing of the same opponents on Thursday brought arguably the most anti-clamactic turn in the history of the tournament.

KKR's win by 86 runs, their biggest since the inaugural IPL match in 2008, gave their net run rate (NRR) a brilliant jump of 0.293 points. This made sure that the gulf between KKR and MI's NRRs has widened to a whopping 0.588, which in turn means that although MI are just two points behind KKR in the points table and still have one match to go, their chances of making it to the playoffs are bleak at best.

To scale the difference and pip over KKR for fourth spot, MI will have to defeat SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) by a margin of at least 171 runs after putting up a first-innings total of over 250. Anything less than that won't do. Moreover, MI can't afford to field first in the game, for if that happens, they will be out of the race at the toss itself.

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To put this in context, a 250-plus total has been reached just once in IPL history. It was by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the famous match against the now-defunct Pune Warriors India on the back of Chris Gayle's unbeaten 66-ball 175. In that match, too, RCB's winning margin was 130 runs - 41 short of what MI need.

The biggest victory margin so far in IPL history is 146. Interestingly, it was Rohit Sharma's team that made that happen in 2017 against the then Delhi Daredevils. But doing so anything even close to that in the UAE will be all but impossible, considering the highest first-innings score in the second leg of the tournament has been just 189.

MI vs SRH to start at 7:30 PM

The MI vs SRH match will begin at 7:30 PM IST in Abu Dhabi. While MI will have to go all guns blazing in the game, they'll have to be wary of taking their opponents - who are themselves coming off a brilliant win against RCB - any lightly.