Last year’s Indian Premier League (IPL) finalists, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), are in a spot of bother. After losing to the Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede Stadium, the 2016 champions might already be out of the IPL 2025 playoffs race. But they won a must-win clash over the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Friday, April 25. Now, they need to win every game.
SRH: Performance so far
As of May 1, SRH have played 9 of their 14 group-stage matches. They have a 3-6 record and are placed 8th on the points table.
SRH started with beating the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in their first match. From there, they have lost 5 of the next 6 matches. Their only win is over the Punjab Kings (PBKS). And SRH have a losing pattern. They haven’t fared well against top teams like Delhi Capitals (DC) or Gujarat Titans (GT) or against mid-table teams like Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) or MI. Fascinatingly, SRH halted their losing run with a win over bottom-placed CSK.
Wins: RR (ranked 8th), PBKS (ranked 4th), CSK (10th)
Losses: LSG (ranked 5th), DC (ranked 1st), KKR (ranked 6th), GT (ranked 2nd), MI (ranked 7th) (4th)
IPL 2025 Playoffs: KKR Qualification Scenarios
16 points is usually what guarantees your IPL 2025 playoffs qualification. And SRH would aim for that. Last year, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) did qualify with 14 points, but in 2022 and 2023, 16 points was the cutoff for the final four. This suggests SRH needs to win all 5 of their remaining matches.
Doing so will be a herculean task. For starters, their next two matches are against GT and DC, two of the best teams of IPL 2025. If they somehow beat them, then there are fixtures against KKR, RCB and LSG. Surely they would lose at least a couple of these games. But right now, we can only imagine.
Remaining Matches
Home: DC (May 5), KKR (May 10)
Away: GT (May 2), RCB (May 13), LSG (May 18)
By all measures, SRH looked to be out of the IPL 2025 playoffs race. They will need to go on a historic run to qualify. But last year, RCB won their last five group stage matches to make the final four. SRH would hope they recreate that.
IPL 2025 – Points Table (as of May 2)
| Team | Mat | Won | Lost | NR | Pts | NRR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mumbai Indians | 11 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 14 | +1.274 |
| Royal Challengers Bengaluru | 10 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 14 | +0.521 |
| Punjab Kings | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 13 | +0.199 |
| Gujarat Titans | 9 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 12 | +0.748 |
| Delhi Capitals | 10 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 12 | +0.362 |
| Lucknow Super Giants | 10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 10 | -0.325 |
| Kolkata Knight Riders | 10 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 9 | +0.271 |
| Rajasthan Royals | 11 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 6 | -0.780 |
| Sunrisers Hyderabad | 9 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 6 | -1.103 |
| Chennai Super Kings | 10 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 4 | -1.211 |
