Punjab’s loss today will cause elimination, boost RR’s playoff hopes:RCB, GT certain to clash in Qualifier-1, 4 teams in race to claim 4th spot

The playoff picture in the league stage of IPL 2026 is almost clear. On Friday, Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore to secure 18 points. However, Bangalore finished in the first position due to a better net run rate. With this, Bangalore and Gujarat will play Qualifier-1 in Dharamshala on May 26. Gujarat Titans had already secured 18 points by defeating Chennai Super Kings. The team’s net run rate is +0.695, and they are in second place. Hyderabad also reached 18 points but is in third place due to a lower net run rate. Now, Rajasthan Royals, Punjab Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders, and Delhi Capitals teams are in the race for the fourth spot. Punjab will face Lucknow Super Giants today, and the team must win at all costs to keep their playoff hopes alive. Current Standings of the Points Table Qualifiers equation for all teams Bengaluru and Gujarat continue to hold Top-2 positions Bengaluru and Gujarat have 18 points each. Due to a better net run rate, Bengaluru (+0.783) is first, while Gujarat is in second place. Both teams are confirmed to play Qualifier-1. The team losing Qualifier-1 gets another chance to play the final. Meanwhile, the team winning Qualifier-2 plays against the team losing Qualifier-1 in the Eliminator. The winning team plays against the team winning Qualifier-1 in the final. SRH in third place despite win against RCB Hyderabad defeated Bengaluru and secured 18 points. The team is in third place. However, due to a lower net run rate (+0.524), SRH could not secure a spot in the top-2. The team needed a 91-run victory against Bengaluru to improve its run rate, but the team could only win by 55 runs. Rajasthan has the biggest opportunity Rajasthan remains in fourth place with 14 points. The team’s last match is against the Mumbai Indians. With a win, Rajasthan will directly qualify for the playoffs. Do-or-die situation for Punjab Punjab is in fifth place with 13 points. The team will have to register a win against Lucknow Super Giants. Punjab will also keep an eye on the results of Rajasthan and Kolkata. Kolkata’s Hopes Remain Alive Kolkata also has 13 points. The team will have to register a win against Delhi Capitals and also hope for losses for Rajasthan and Punjab. Delhi Capitals almost knocked out of the IPL 2026 Delhi is in seventh place with 12 points. The team’s net run rate is quite poor (-0.871). Delhi will have to win against Kolkata by a large margin and also depend on the results of other teams. Mumbai, Chennai and Lucknow ruining playoff contention post elimination Mumbai, Chennai and Lucknow are out of the playoff race. Chennai is in seventh, Mumbai in ninth, and Lucknow in the last position. Top Players of the Tournament Klaasen moves to third position Gujarat’s Sai Sudharsan remains the Orange Cap holder with 638 runs. He is followed by Gujarat’s captain Shubman Gill in second place with 616 runs. Hyderabad’s Heinrich Klaasen, who played an innings of 51 runs against Bengaluru, has moved to third position with 606 runs. Bhuvneshwar has Purple Cap despite going wicketless vs SRH There has been no change in the Purple Cap after the Hyderabad-Bengaluru match. Bengaluru’s Bhuvneshwar Kumar is in first place with 24 wickets. Gujarat’s Kagiso Rabada (24 wickets) is second, and Chennai’s Anshul Kamboj (21 wickets) is in third place. It’s worth noting that Bhuvneshwar Kumar went wicketless against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Friday, leaking runs at an economy of more than 12. Overall, he gave away 51 runs in his 4-over spell.