Is SRH officially eliminated from the IPL 2025 playoffs race?

The doors to the IPL 2025 playoffs are on the verge of closing for yet another team. Chennai Super Kings, following their defeat against Punjab Kings at home, became the first side to be eliminated from the race. Rajasthan Royals followed soon after, as Mumbai Indians registered a massive 100-run win in Jaipur. Now, their companion at the bottom of the table, Sunrisers Hyderabad, stare at a similar fate. The ongoing season hasn’t been kind to the IPL 2024 runners-up. Amid an already difficult campaign, the Pat Cummins led side suffered another loss, this time in Ahmedabad in the GT vs SRH clash. Interestingly, while SRH are all but out of the IPL 2025 playoffs race, their elimination isn't official just yet, with the Orange Army still hanging on by a thread.

How can SRH still qualify for the IPL 2025 playoffs?

While the equation now has shaped up as almost impossible, Sunrisers Hyderabad are not entirely kicked out of the IPL 2025 playoffs race yet. Despite a 38-run defeat to Gujarat Titans in their last fixture, SRH still have a mathematical shot at a top-four finish. That loss has left SRH languishing in ninth place with only six points from ten matches. With four games left in the league stage, they now face an uphill task, winning all remaining fixtures is the bare minimum to stay in contention. Even then, their fate would depend heavily on how other results unfold in the closing stages of the season.

If SRH do manage to string together four straight wins, they’ll finish on 14 points, a number that has proven enough to qualify in previous years. In fact, Royal Challengers Bengaluru secured a playoff spot with the same tally in IPL 2024, thanks to a superior Net Run Rate. That history offers a faint ray of hope for SRH.

However, the major stumbling block is their NRR, which currently stands at -1.192, the worst among the teams still in the playoff race. It means that simply winning won't be enough, Sunrisers Hyderabad must win big to make a real dent in that negative margin. Adding to the challenge is the current standing of their rivals. Teams like Mumbai Indians, Gujarat Titans, RCB, and Punjab Kings are already in double digits, some even crossing the 13-point mark. If more than three teams breach the 14-point barrier, SRH will be eliminated regardless of how they perform in their final games.

The fixtures ahead aren’t kind either. Next up, they face Delhi Capitals on May 7, a side that convincingly beat them earlier in the season. After that comes a difficult stretch of away matches, including a clash against RCB at the Chinnaswamy on May 13 and a battle with LSG at the Ekana on May 18. Their prior 80-run thrashing at the hands of KKR highlights just how much they’ve struggled, especially outside their home turf.