The Ajinkya Rahane-led side is now the fourth team to get eliminated from the Playoffs race. Royal Challengers Bengaluru are now the new table-toppers. However, they are yet to get an official qualification for the Playoffs Stage.
The inaugural match of the Resumed IPL 2025 season between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Kolkata Knight Riders at Bengaluru faced abandonment as Rain played Spoilsport at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Saturday. Both teams have secured one point each. However, it will be the end of Kolkata Knight Riders’ playoff hopes as they were searching for a result in this encounter. A win could have helped them stay in this extremely tight race to the playoffs.
Kolkata Knight Riders have now become the fourth team to get eliminated from the playoffs race as a result of this match means they now have 12 points in their kitty and they could reach to only 14 points by the end of the league stage. As there are three teams who have already breached the 14-point mark, along with an encounter left between the 4th and the 5th position team, which will further decide the fourth team to enter the playoffs, it’s game over for the defending champions.
In what could have been a memorable night for the RCB fans, turned out to be a frustrating one as rain got more intensified whenever the ground staff use to do their best to prepare the playing conditions. A large number of fans also sported white Jerseys to give a fitting Tribute to Virat Kohli as he recently announced his shock retirement from the red-ball format.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru now just need a point to officially make it to the playoffs. They will now host Sunrisers Hyderabad in their next match on May 23 to get that official qualification for the playoffs stage. Whereas, the Knight Riders too, will be facing Sunrisers Hyderabad at Delhi according to the rescheduled match-up on May 25 in what will be the last league game for both the finalists of the previous season.
