The Overview

All eyes will be on one team at 19.30 IST on Friday (October 8) even though three other teams will be in action at the same time. The BCCI did recently confirm that for the first time ever, the final two league matches of the season will be played concurrently but ultimately, the Mumbai Indians will be hogging all the limelight. The defending champions have been left with a mammoth task to grab that final playoff spot. Kolkata Knight Riders hammered Rajasthan Royals by 86 runs to boost their net run rate and qualification chances.

MI need to win by 171 runs or more and score more than 200 to go past KKR's net run rate of +0.587. They, however, will be eliminated if they chase. Considering the fact that MI are the most successful franchise in history, the other three teams wouldn't ideally want to see the men in blue again in the final stages of the tournament with two of them chasing their maiden title.

Rajasthan Royals were blown away by a complete bowling performance which was then followed by Ishan Kishan returning to form in style. If Suryakumar Yadav also joins the party, MI becomes even more formidable.

Not that it would matter much for a side that has already had a campaign to forget but SRH would still love to dearly round it off with a win. These two teams faced off in the final league game of the season last year as well but under different circumstances.