As the competition moves into the final week of the league round, seven clubs are vying for the final three spots in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 playoff race, which is showing no signs of ending its drama. After defeating the Punjab Kings on Sunday, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) became the first team to qualify, but Delhi Capitals' triumph against the Rajasthan Royals complicated the top-four contest. Seven teams are now fighting for the final three playoff spots.
The Mumbai Indians and the Lucknow Super Giants are the only two teams eliminated thus far, while Royal Challengers Bengaluru have guaranteed their place in the next round. We examine the qualifying options for the last seven teams:

Gujarat Titans: To formally secure qualification and really contend with RCB for the top slot, the Shubman Gill-led team needs to win just one of their next two games. Unless there is an impractical statistical shift with the trailing teams, they are very likely to pass on points or net run rate (NRR) even if they lose both.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: SRH is in charge of their own fate. With two victories, they might reach 18 points, securely positioning them in the top four and possibly enabling them to contend for a top-two finish. With one victory, they reach 16 points, which, given their strong, positive NRR, should easily break the deadlock below them.

Punjab Kings: PBKS can only earn a maximum of 15 points by defeating LSG in their final game after suffering a devastating loss to RCB. A victory is unavoidable since they are unable to cross the 16-point safety criterion. Even so, they have to hope that teams like CSK, RR, and KKR don't easily surpass the 14-point threshold with a higher NRR. While DC can only manage a maximum of 14 points, which would be meaningless if Punjab reached 15, SRH is expected to finish the campaign ahead of PBKS.
Rajasthan Royals: With four losses in their last five games, Rajasthan's campaign is about to implode. They still have control over their playoff fate.They still have control over their playoff fate. RR will finish with 16 points, ahead of PBKS, KKR, and DC, if they win both of their remaining games. If they only win one, they will have to fight CSK and DC in an unpleasant NRR match, assuming that neither KKR nor PBKS can score 15 points.
Chennai Super Kings: CSK is in a must-win situation following their most recent loss to LSG. To get to 16 points, they should ideally win the final two games. They are entirely dependent on RR, KKR, and PBKS not surpassing the 14-point threshold and maintaining their NRR above the opposition after winning just one game (14 points).

Kolkata Knight Riders: Other than PBKS, KKR is the only team capable of scoring 15 points. If other teams manage to manage merely 14 points, that provides them a small lead. Since several teams are still in contention, the Ajinkya Rahane-led club must win both of their remaining games. If they do, Net Run Rate (NRR) is anticipated to determine their future. They will just need one victory to reach 13 points, though it is highly doubtful that that will be sufficient.
Delhi Capitals: Delhi's victory over Rajasthan kept their season alive, but with just one game remaining, they can only get a maximum of 14 points.They must win their last game and do so by a significant margin in order to qualify. They also strongly depend on KKR not winning more than one game and CSK, PBKS, and RR losing all of their remaining games. They also desperately require huge margins of victory or a collapse in total points from the rest of the field due to their highly damaged NRR (-0.871).