Royal Challengers Bangalore claimed the final spot in the Indian Premier League playoffs with a six-wicket win over the Delhi Daredevils Sunday afternoon.
Gujarat Lions, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders had already booked their play-off places, leaving the Challengers and Daredevils in a winner-takes- all bout at Raipur.
The play-offs get underway on Tuesday where Lions face the Challengers for a spot in the final, before Sunrisers host Knight Riders the following day to decide who plays the loser of the top-two clash to meet the winner in this year’s showpiece.
Here’s how the world of social media reacted as all four teams cemented their playoff spots…
GUJARAT LIONS
Gujarat Lions sealed top spot in the points table after a 96-run partnership between Brendon McCullum and Suresh Raina set them up for a six-wicket win over Mumbai Indians in their final game.
Lions ended the league stage on 18 points with a surprisingly low net run rate of -0.37 but with nine wins in the bag.
ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE
Virat Kohli made a match-winning contribution – as well as surpassing the 900-run mark – as Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Delhi Daredevils by six wickets to cement their place in the IPL playoffs.
It was the side’s fourth victory in a row and saw them finish second overall. Challengers finished on 16 points for the season, but climbed to second with an impressive net run rate of +0.93, thanks largely to the brilliance of Kohli.
SUNRISERS HYDERABAD
Sunrisers secured third place despite their 22-run defeat to Knight Riders, after a fine early season run that had them way out in front for the most part.
Hyderabad’s innings in their last outing unravelled quickly having briefly threatened to take the game away from KKR, but could only manage 149-8 and ended the season with a +0.24 net run rate.
Sunrisers slipped to third when they could have finished top had they won their final match.
KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS
Kolkata Knight Riders grabbed the final position in the playoffs thanks to mesmerising 22-run win over the Sunrisers and a wonderful showing from Kuldeep Yadav.
KKR finished on 16 points, winning eight games this season and ending with a net run rate of +0.11.