2 weeks Ago By Firstpost
Rajasthan Royals (RR) are among the early contenders to drop out of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 playoffs race after suffering their fifth consecutive loss on Friday. RR were beaten by Royal Challengers (RCB) at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium by 11 runs . It was the third consecutive game where RR lost the plot in a chase despite being in a winning position.
They needed just 18 from the last two overs and somehow ended up 10 runs short , suffering their fifth consecutive loss in IPL 2025. This is their longest losing streak in IPL since the 2009-10 seasons. The Riyan Parag-led RR currently have just four points from nine matches with seven defeats overall.
No team has lost as many matches so far. Only Sunrisers Hyderabad and Chennai Super Kings are behind RR in the IPL 2025 points table but they both have one game in hand. RR are not out of the IPL 2025 playoffs race mathematically as they can still reach 14 points by winning their remaining 5 matches.
And while a few teams have reached the playoffs after reaching just 14 points, including RCB last season, winning five out of five may still prove to be too little for the Royals. Why? Because at least six teams can overtake RR’s tally of 14 points, considering they reach there. Gujarat Titans, Delhi Capitals and RCB need just two more wins each to get to 16 points, while Mumbai Indians, Punjab Kings and Lucknow Super Giants can reach there with three wins each.
Even seventh-ranked Kolkata Knight Riders can surpass the 14-point mark as they still have six matches to go. With six points already in the bag, KKR need to win five out of their remaining six matches to reach 16 points. This shows that RR may not qualify for the IPL 2025 playoffs even if they win all five remaining matches.
Still, the team needs to keep believing because IPL has its own way of always making things interesting towards the end of the league phase. In case the permutations and combinations fall in their favour and the majority of teams slide then RR may still sneak in but they will also need to improve their net run rate (NRR), which is currently 0.625.
Royals’ next match is against the Gujarat Titans at home on Monday. 28 April: RR vs GT, Jaipur 1 May: RR vs MI, Jaipur 4 May: KKR vs RR, Kolkata 12 May: RR vs CSK, Jaipur 16 May: RR vs PBKS, Jaipur.
