Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have put themselves in the driving seat to book their berth in the IPL 2023 Playoffs stage with their massive eight-wicket win over bottom-placed Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Thursday night. RCB have replaced five-time former champions Mumbai Indians (MI) in the fourth position and both teams have 14 points with one match in hand.
Virat Kohli’s brilliant century helped RCB edge ahead of Rohit Sharma’s MI on basis of a superior net run-rate – 0.180 as compared to -0.128. RCB now have a tough clash at home against table-toppers and defending champions Gujarat Titans while MI will take on SRH in their final home game.
But wins for both teams might not be enough as well if MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) both win their last matches on Saturday. In that scenario both CSK and LSG will qualify for IPL 2023 Playoffs with 17 points and only one out of MI and RCB can book their berths in the Eliminator clash of this season.
IPL 2023 Points Table - RCB back in the Top 4.
They've a chance to finish in the Top 2 as well now! pic.twitter.com/m2dIiS98kl
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) May 18, 2023
Meanwhile, Punjab Kings (PBKS) will take on Rajasthan Royals at Dharamsala on Friday night and both sides will look to keep their slim hopes of making the Playoffs stage alive.
Virat Kohli zooms up to 4th in Orange Cap race
Former RCB skipper Kohli notched up a record sixth century in IPL and zoomed up to fourth position in the IPL 2023 Orange Cap race. Kohli now has 538 runs in 13 matches with 1 hundred and six fifties this season.
Kohli’s teammate and current RCB skipper Faf du Plessis continues to hold the Orange Cap with a brilliant 47-balls 71 against SRH on Thursday night. Du Plessis has crossed 700 runs this season as well and is now on 702 runs from 13 matches with 8 fifties.
@ViratKohli breaks into top five run-getters list. @faf1307 reached 700 runs mark in this season and retains Orange cap.
MohammedShami remain as Purple cap holder.#IPL2023 #SRHvRCB #KingKohli #ViratKohli #SportsNews pic.twitter.com/2Ct09UraJG— Sports News _ (@AliAbdullah9583) May 18, 2023
GT opener Shubman Gill is second on the table with 576 runs in 13 matches with 1 century and 4 fifties while RR opener Yashasvi Jaiswal is third with 575 runs in 13 games so far.
Mohammed Siraj rises to 8th in Purple Cap table
RCB pacer Mohammed Siraj picked 1/17 in their last match against SRH to move up to 8th position on the Purple Cap table. Siraj now has 17 wickets in 13 matches – same as GT pacer Mohit Sharma, who had 17 wickets in 10 games so far.
GT fast bowler Mohammad Shami continues to hold the Purple Cap and has 23 wickets in 13 matches while his teammate and leg-spinner Rashid Khan is in second position with 23 wickets as well.
RR leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, who is in third place with 21 wickets, can take over the Purple Cap on Friday night as he gets ready to face PBKS in Dharamsala.
