The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 will see an important clash between SunRisers Hyderabad and Gujarat Titans in Hyderabad on Thursday. The IPL 2024 playoff race will be hugely impacted by the result of this match. So far, Kolkata Knight Riders (19 points in 13 matches) and Rajasthan Royals (16 points in 13 matches) are through. Delhi Capitals (14 points in 14 matches, -0.377) and Lucknow Super Giants (12 points in 13 matches, NRR -0.787) have only a faint hope of qualifying but their poor Net Run-rate is a big deterrent. 

The real race is between Chennai Super Kings (14 points in 13 matches, NRR +0.528), Royal Challengers Bengaluru (12 points in 13 matches, NRR +0.387) and SunRisers Hyderabad (14 points in 12 matches, NRR +0.406). 

SRH have two matches (vs GT on Thursday, vs Punjab Kings on Sunday) left. Even if they win one match, they will be assured of a place in the playoffs. If RCB and CSK both are to qualify, they would hope SRH to lose both their matches and then NRR will come into play. 

However, RCB and CSK are now facing another big worry. Going by the visuals from Hyderabad on Thursday, it is raining heavily. The chances of rain, according to accuweather.com, in Hyderabad is close to 50 per cent throughout the evening. 

It’s raining at the Uppal Stadium in Hyderabad. pic.twitter.com/sruBKUt5Tm

— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) May 16, 2024

If the SRH vs GT match gets washed out, the two teams will get one point each. It would mean SRH will reach 15 points and qualify for the playoffs. 

RCB vs CSK 

The RCB vs CSK match in Bengaluru on Saturday then becomes a straight knockout with only one of the two teams progressing. RCB have to beat CSK to get to 14 points. But that may not be enough as RCB would also have to keep theur NRR above CSK. 

CSK will also hope for a win. But a loss may not knock them out either. Even if they lose, they should aim to keep the margin of defeat to as low as possible. In that scenario, their NRR may still be above RCB, thus helping them grab the fourth playoff spot.