Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) walked into the clash against Gujarat Titans (GT) knowing that they needed to win all of their remaining five games to keep their playoff hopes alive. But their loss in Ahmedabad has dealt a serious blow to that plan — they’ve stumbled at the very first hurdle.
Yet, despite the defeat, SRH are not officially out. There is still a narrow path that leads them to the playoffs. It’s a long shot, but it exists.
How Can SRH Still Qualify?
SRH now have four games left in the league stage. To stay in the hunt, they will need to win all four. No room for error.
Four wins will take them to 14 points, which is the minimum they need to stay in the playoff race — at least on paper. From there, SRH will have to hope for a perfect storm of results going their way and rely heavily on Net Run Rate (NRR). Ironically, they currently have the second-worst NRR in the league at -1.19.
Still, here’s how things would need to play out for SRH to sneak in:
- SRH must win each of their remaining four matches by huge margins — ideally 50 to 100 runs in every game
- Punjab Kings (currently on 13 points) must lose all of their remaining fixtures
- Gujarat Titans (on 14 points) must also lose all of their remaining matches, and by significant margins to damage their NRR
- Delhi Capitals must beat both PBKS and GT
- Lucknow Super Giants need to defeat PBKS and GT but lose to RCB and SRH
- Kolkata Knight Riders must lose at least two of their four remaining matches
- Mumbai Indians, RCB, and Delhi Capitals should remain out of the NRR tangle to make room in the standings
If everything mentioned above unfolds as hoped, SRH, LSG, and GT could all finish on 14 points, with PBKS stuck at 13. In such a scenario, the final playoff spot will be determined by NRR — and if SRH have thumping wins in their last four games, they could just squeeze through.
A Fading Dream
While the mathematical door is still slightly ajar, realistically, SRH’s playoff hopes are hanging by a thread. Their poor NRR and early inconsistency have made things nearly impossible.
