Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) retained their top spot in the Indian Premier League (IPL) points table after the group stage despite their loss against Sunrisers Hyderabad by 55 runs on Friday at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.
In the process Sunrisers Hyderabad, RCB and Gujarat Titans finish their group stage at 18 points with the net run rate (NRR) coming into play as far as the final standings are concerned.
With Gujarat Titans sealing their second spot after their win over Chennai Super Kings, Sunrisers Hyderabad finished at third based on NRR. While RCB finished with a NRR of +0.783, Sunrisers Hyderabad have +0.524. Gujarat Titans finished at+0.695. That leaves Punjab Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals fighting for the last spot in the playoffs.
Sunrisers Hyderabad could have finished at the top spot, had they were able to restrict RCB under 165 after scoring 255/4, following Pat Cummins' decision to bat first. RCB finished on 200/4 in 20 overs, with captain Rajat Patidar top-scoring 56. Venkatesh Iyer and Krunal Pandya also contributed with 44 and 41 respectively.
The chase of 256 was always out of question even as Iyer (44 off 19 balls) provided a solid start. Virat Kohli (15 off 11 balls) and Devdutt Padikkal (21 off 14 balls) didn't get too many. Once RCB understood that they can't win the match, veterans Patidar (56 off 39 balls) and Pandya (41 not out off 31 balls) concentrated on the 'Magic Figure' of 166 with a 84-run stand.
IPL 2026 Points Table after SRH vs RCB
That means, RCB will take on Gujarat Titans in IPL 2026 Qualifier 1 on May 26 at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala. Sunrisers Hyderabad will take on either Punjab Kings or Kolkata Knight Riders or Rajasthan Royals in the Eliminator on May 27 in Mullanpur.
The loser of Qualifier 1 and the winner of the Eliminator will play in Qualifier 2 for a spot in the final. The winner between RCB and Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 1 will directly book a spot in the summit clash.
IPL 2026 Playoffs schedule
What captains say after SRH vs RCB?
After the match, Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Pat Cummins heaped high praise for Sakib Hussain and Eshan Malinga. "It was great. The boys batted fantastically. Pretty good wicket, knew a lot of things had to go our way. We threw a few things at them, it's still a big win. The way Eshan has bowled all tournament, Sakib there as well, captain's dream. We'll rest for a couple of days. We'll know who we're playing in a couple of days," Cummins said.
Reacting to the loss, Patidar admitted that the target was definitely high. "Obviously, I think their top five batsmen played really well, and they purely dominated in the first innings. The top priority was to be on the top, but I think, there were a lot of runs in the first inning. I think 255 is a good score on this wicket," the RCB skipper said.
"And I think their five bowlers executed the slow bouncers and yorkers pretty well. I think it's a good wicket, but when you start bowling slow bouncers, slow into the wicket, I think it's really tough for the batsman to score the runs," he added.
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