IPL 2021 Points Table: Updated standings and top-2 scenarios after SRH beat RCB

Before SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH)’s match against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) today, pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar said his team needed “some fortune” to go their way to stop RCB’s mighty batting lineup.

But when Kumar will look back at his game, where he thwarted AB de Villiers (19 off 13) from hitting a six off the last ball to seal a win by four runs, he’ll see that this was more than just luck.

SRH’s batting was the same old tale as the top-order plus Jason Holder carried them to a competitive 141-7. In the second essay, though, the scarily accurate bowling, coupled with some razor-sharp fielding efforts, turned the clock back to SRH’s glory days and proved to be the difference between the two teams.

Each bowler contributed a wicket, with four of them conceding under seven an hour. And captain Kane Williamson put the cherry on the cake with a stunning runout of the best batter of the day – Glen Maxwell (40 off 25). Kumar defended 13 off the last over to end their penultimate game of the season on a high.

A look at the updated IPL 2021 points table

What does this mean for SRH?

Pride has been the keyword for Williamson’s team since they were knocked out of the race for the playoffs even before any team qualified. While they’ve failed to perform in many “nothing to lose” situations before, this win will certainly put some smiles on the faces of fans back home.

SRH still have an opportunity left to add two more points to their tally – against Mumbai Indians (MI) on Friday. And although it’s inevitable that they will conclude the season placed eighth – SRH’s worst-ever finish – they might just spoil Rohit Sharma’s plans and gain plaudits from Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) before that.

What does this mean for RCB?

After three consecutive wins, the RCB have pulled themselves down to a tricky position in the IPL 2021 once again. They have maintained their third spot in the points table and are already qualified, but a top-two finish seems all but impossible now. Not to mention the impact on the net run rate (NRR), which is at a lowly -0.157.

Virat Kohli’s men will now have to hope for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to be defeated heavily against Punjab Kings (PBKS) on Thursday. RCB can only qualify if CSK lose most of their currently brilliant net run rate of +0.739 and then RCB make up for the remaining difference with a huge win over Delhi Capitals (DC) on Friday.

At the moment a CSK versus DC contest in the Qualifier looks the most likely.

Impact on other teams in the points table

No other team’s points table standing was affected by today’s result. However, thanks to RCB’s no-show, DC have become the first team to qualify in the top-two, doing so for the second consecutive time in IPL.

The Rishabh Pant-led team are at the top with 20 points and only CSK can match that tally. This might tempt DC to rest a few players ahead of the qualifiers, which in turn will open up an opportunity for the RCB to make a final attempt at a top-two finish.

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Meanwhile, MI, who are coming off a massive win over Rajasthan Royals (RR), will certainly have a little difficulty seeing SRH beat the third-placed side in such fashion.