The stage is set, teams are ready for the Playoffs and the race has started for the prestigious IPL 2024 Trophy.
Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bengaluru are the four teams to play for the trophy of the biggest cricket league in the world.
KKR became the first team to qualify for the playoffs with the highest NRR (+1.428) and lost only three games. SRH and RR were battling for second place but due to unfortunate rain interruption in both the games SRH found themselves in the second position of the table as they had a better NRR (+0.414) than Rajasthan Royals.
Rajasthan on the other hand had a fair chance of ending at the first or second position but they lost their 4 back-to-back games of the league stage. Also, the team is looking to be in trouble as Jos Butler is back in England for national duty, and Hetmyer is out of form also the performance from the bowlers is lacking intent. Rajasthan now has to win all three games to get hands on their second trophy.
Kolkata Knight Riders are looking solid this year and are aiming for their third trophy, they have a perfect combination of youngsters and experienced players, along with a great coaching staff. The perfect start from Narine and the perfect finish by Russell and company allows the KKR bowlers to bowl strategically and effectively.
Sunrisers Hyderabad has been one of the most aggressively playing teams in this IPL, and by aggressive that means they are completely attacking the opposition bowlers and the duo of Travishek (Travis & Abhishek) are just incredible. Both the players are in great form and stopping them at the start is the only way for the other teams to stop the Sun risers from scoring a big grand total.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru are one of the most unpredictable teams of IPL 2024. They lost 7 of their games in the first leg of the IPL and were on brink of elimination. From 1% chances of qualifying for the playoffs to actually qualifying for the playoffs they have come a long way. They lost 6 consecutive games at the start but later won 6 consecutive games and became the only team in the IPL to do so. They have a fair chance of further increasing this lead of record wins by winning all the three games in the playoffs and winning their first ever IPL trophy.
Their last league game against Chennai Super Kings was a do or die game but they held their nerves to win the game by 27 runs. They will now face Rajasthan Royals on 22nd May at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Today the race for the trophy will start with the first match of the playoffs, the Qualifier 1 between KKR and SRH. The excitement is rising among the fans, and everyone is anticipating a great cricket contest.
