Over the 17 seasons of the Indian Premier League, there have been countless adrenaline-charged moments. As fierce as the competition has been, the tournament has had its fair share of fine margins, too. The primary objective of participating teams has always been to perform well during the group stage to ensure a smooth journey to the playoffs.
The 16-point threshold is a safe margin for teams to target to ensure a berth in the playoffs. This requires a total of eight wins to be achieved throughout the round-robin stage. However, the 2019 edition of the IPL proved to be an anomaly in this case. The top three sides ended up on 18 points apiece. Sunrisers Hyderabad, Kolkata Knight Riders, and Kings XI Punjab secured 12 points apiece. SRH claimed the fourth spot due to a superior net run rate than KKR and KXIP (+0.577 as compared to +0.028 and -0.251).
Coming to IPL 2025, a similar kind of mid-table chaos can be observed as far as the 10-team tournament is concerned. Ahead of Match 48 of the ongoing spectacle, only four points separate teams placed from first place to sixth position. With the recent eight-wicket mauling that Rajasthan Royals inflicted on Gujarat Titans, it’s quite evident that no team has truly dominated the season so far. Given the way things are progressing, it seems extremely likely that multiple sides will be in contention until the very end.
10 of 17 seasons have seen teams just about making it through to the knockout stage. It is a different matter that only twice have teams gone onto win the title after finishing the league phase with a tally of 14 points. In such instalments of the IPL, NRR has become a crucial factor to consider. Under these circumstances, every run or over in terms of the margin by which sides win/lose could determine their fate about advancement to the latter stage of the tournament.
Rain-affected games and surprise upsets play a huge role in closely-fought contests such as the ongoing one. It’s a traditional practice for sides to focus on simply winning matches by hook or crook. However, tight seasons have underscored the essence of losing by the least possible margin, to not effect a considerable dent as far as NRR is concerned. Coaches and analysts have had a more vital role to play in terms of paying closer attention to game management and matchups.
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