After almost 40 days and 50 matches who would have expected this marathon to be still full of new twists at every corner, this is the story of IPL- 2018. With only 7 games remaining, the battle is still far from over. Suddenly, in one week there are 5 teams contending for last two spots in playoffs. On one hand where Sunrisers Hyderabad and Chennai Super kings have somewhat cemented their position in top 2, rest of the teams are still tussling for the other two spots. Apart from Delhi Daredevils, who again had a very disappointing season, all the teams are still in the game. Let’s take a look at the teams and their odds & find out who will reach IPL Playoffs 2018.

Kolkata Knight Riders (P 13 W 7 L 6 PT 14 NRR -0.091)
A team that chose a rookie to lead them to glory had a disappointing season due to their inconsistency. Karthik cannot be solely blamed for the same. He gave his best and tried to make the most of the squad. The main issue they faced was injuries and out of form core team. They might have come a little closer to playoffs after last night’s victory. But they need to win their last match against SRH to be completely sure of that.

RAJASTHAN ROYALS (P 13 W 6 L 7 PT 12 NRR -0.403)
The luck finally ran out for the team last night with Butler hitting the pavilion too soon. The result is that the team is almost out of the game. They will have to win their last game with a huge margin, and hope that KXIP, MI and RCB lose with the same. It looks impossible but as is said in cricket- Anything is possible while the game is going on.

Kings XI Punjab: (P 12 W 6 L 6 PT 12 NRR -0.518)
With the kind of start they had this IPL, no one ever thought that KXIP would be struggling to make it to the playoffs. Everything changed when they won just one game out the last 6. They will have to win both their matches as they cannot rely on their NRR anymore. One loss and they are out of the game. They are right now sitting at number 6 with 12 points. The over-dependency on their openers triggered this collapse. The middle order batting was the weakest link which proved lethal in this case.

MUMBAI INDIANS (P 12 W 5 L 7 PT 10 NRR 0.405)
They have a good NRR, but they will have to win both the matches and hope that it comes to a 4 way tie on 12 points to get into the playoffs. This time, they are not only depending on their talent but gambling on their luck too. With MI, this has been the case ever since. But what if their luck runs out this time?

ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE (P 12 W 5 L 7 PT 10 NRR 0.218)
At one point they had lost all hopes, but somehow a miracle happened and now they are a contender of playoffs. They will have to win both their games with exceptional scores to improve their NRR. And hope, that three of the other four teams lose their matches so that it all comes down to NRR. That’s how melodramatic it has to be!

Whichever team reaches the IPL Playoffs 2018 & holds the cup at the end of this carnival, the real winner is Cricket.