The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) saw many things happen - be it the change in captaincy from Ravindra Jadeja to MS Dhoni or the opening partnership between Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway to scoring 200+ runs and then winning against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH).
While it does look good to see the Chennai side back to winning matches, the main question still remains, is could CSK make it to the playoffs from this stage on?
With the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 heading towards the business end and some teams already having one foot in the playoff, the other sides will surely need to grind hard to make it to the final four.
Chennai Super Kings, surely belong to the latter category as the defending champions have struggled largely this season, as they won just three of their first nine games.
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The southern team is currently reeling at the penultimate position in points table and many aren’t backing them to qualify for the next stage.
However, the side does have all the chances to advance to the playoffs. With them having five matches left in the competition, CSK must emerge victorious every single time.
CSK defeated the high-flying Sunrisers Hyderabad by 13 runs, however, this will not be enough.
How can CSK still qualify for the IPL 2022 playoffs?
CSK, with three wins in nine games, have five matches left to play. While a win in all the remaining games will see the Yellow Army taking their points tally to 16.
While earlier, these points would have been enough to see a team go through, however, things might be a bit complicated this time around.
The current table-toppers Gujarat Titans (GT) already have 16 points, that too in just nine games. Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) follow behind as they hold the second place with 14 points and have as many as four matches left to play.
Rajasthan Royals (RR) and SRH also are holding third and fourth place respectively with six and five wins from nine games. With all this, CSK, to make it to the playoffs, will have to keep an eye on the performances of these teams as well.
In fact, there is a possibility of a team with 16 points to their name, not qualifying for the playoffs as well, this could be due to their Net Run Rate (NRR).
Hence, CSK would have to not just win games, but also enhance their net run rate as well which is currently -0.407.
