Can Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings qualify for IPL 2022 play-offs?

Most successful teams of the tournament are languishing at bottom of the points table

Rohit Sharma of Mumbai Indians and Jasprit Bumrah of Mumbai Indians during match 9 of the TATA Indian Premier League 2022 (IPL season 15) between the Mumbai Indians and the Rajasthan Royals held at the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai on the 2nd April 2022 Photo by Deepak Malik / Sportzpics for IPL

Ravindra Jadeja took over the captaincy of Chennai Super Kings from MS Dhoni. Sportzpics for IPL

Tilak Varma has been one of the finds of a forgettable season for Mumbai Indians. Sportzpics for IPL

Ishan Kishan has failed with the bat for Mumbai Indians. Sportzpics for IPL

Ruturaj Gaikwad has not been in great form for Chennai Super Kings. Sportzpics for IPL

Dwayne Bravo is still delivering for Chennai Super Kings. Sportzpics for IPL

Ravindra Jadeja is still being guided by MS Dhoni. Sportzpics for IPL

The two most decorated teams of the Indian Premier League are currently in the middle of one of their worst ever slumps. And there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel.

Five-time champions Mumbai Indians have lost their first six matches. Title holders Chennai have won just once.

Mumbai captain Rohit Sharma has lifted the IPL trophy six times - once as member of the now defunct Deccan Chargers franchise. It was his IPL record, plus winning touch in multi-team tournaments, that landed him India's captaincy across formats.

Equally illustrious has been the record of Chennai, who have reached the IPL final nine times. MS Dhoni had been their leader throughout, and was expected to do so this time as well. But days before the first match of the new season, Dhoni handed over the captaincy to Ravindra Jadeja.

The writing was pretty much on the wall for Mumbai during the auction earlier in the year as they invested in an unfit Jofra Archer - possibly with an eye on 2023 - which meant their attack was pretty much Jasprit Bumrah and nothing much else. The poor batting form of Rohit and record acquisition Ishan Kishan has hurt them even more.

Chennai have issues of their own, with Dhoni still seeming to be in charge with Jadeja regularly stationed at the boundary during the closing stages of matches. They. too, pretty much put all their bowling eggs in one basket - Deepak Chahar - who has been ruled out of the tournament.

So is this the end of the road already for Mumbai and Chennai?

Format

This edition of IPL has 10 teams. However, the organisers have capped the number of matches each franchise plays to 14 - same as last year when eight teams were in operation.

It means both Mumbai and Chennai have eight games remaining in the league phase. The top four teams at the end of the opening stage qualify for the play-offs, with net run rate the deciding factor in case teams are tied on points.

How many points for qualification?

Last season, Kolkata Knight Riders qualified for the play-offs with 14 points. In 2019, Sunrisers Hyderabad qualified with just 12 in one of the most closely contested tournaments in IPL history. But with two more teams this year, the cut-off point is likely to be higher.

In 2011, when there were 10 teams playing 14 games, Kolkata made the cut with eight wins and 16 points.

Scenarios

Mumbai Indians first need to win their next eight games. It is a truly daunting task as they look well short in the batting and bowling department. Apart from the points, they also need to worry about their net run rate, which is an abysmal -1.048 - easily the worst in the tournament. Which is why most have already ruled Mumbai out of contention as they also need teams above them to underperform.

Chennai, on the other hand, are in a slightly better position as they have won one game and have experienced players in key positions. They had a golden chance to win their previous game - against Gujarat Titans - but a horror last over from Chris Jordan saw them fail to defend 13. So they have a slightly better mathematical chance for qualification that Mumbai; somehow win seven out of eight games and hope other results go their way.

Remaining fixtures