IPL 2025 playoffs battle: Mumbai, Delhi Capitals, KKR in intense fight

• Mumbai Indians
• Delhi Capitals
• Kolkata Knight Riders

Mumbai Indians

Mumbai suffered a demoralizing defeat to Gujarat Titans on Tuesday night in a match that carried on well past midnight due to intermittent rain. As a result of Mumbai unable to defend in the final over, they are in fourth with 14 points from 12 matches.

However, Mumbai have a terrific net run-rate of 1.156, which will help them if they are tied on points with any team.

"Throughout the game, we made some good decisions with the ball when we had to attack. They hit some good shots, we bowled a no-ball as well on top of that - and we still came down to the last ball,” coach Mahela Jayawardena said. “It was not the decision; it was the execution. That's where we lost the game. My thinking is we lost the game when we had control of it and that was disappointing."

Delhi Capitals

Delhi were fortunate that rain intervened in their game against Sunrisers Hyderabad. They only managed 133 for 7 in that match, which is important because that score would not have sufficed in those conditions.

That has resulted in Delhi currently occupying fifth on the points table with 13 points in 5 matches.

They do, however, have some tough fixtures coming up: against Punjab Kings, Gujarat Titans and Mumbai, who are all battling for spots in the playoffs.

Kolkata Knight Riders

KKR will be ruing missed chances this season. They will look at botched chases against Lucknow Super Giants at home and Punjab on the road as chances to have picked up two points each.

However, they are unbeaten in their last three matches, which has pushed them up to sixth on the table with 11 points in six games.

Their next three opponents are CSK, SRH and RCB. Two of those teams are out of contention for the playoffs, which could ease their issues if they can maintain their own discipline.