Can Chennai Super Kings still qualify for IPL 2025 playoffs after nine-wicket loss against Mumbai Indians?

Chennai Super Kings’ hopes of carrying the winning momentum from the victory over Lucknow Super Giants last week in Lucknow were crushed as Mumbai Indians’ Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav struck unbeaten half-centuries to hand a reality check to MS Dhoni’s men. Chennai lost the return leg against their arch-nemesis on Sunday, losing by nine wickets at the Wankhede.

Rohit roared back to form to score an unbeaten 76 and stitched a 114-run stand for the second wicket with Suryakumar, who smashed 68 off 30 balls as Mumbai chased down 177 with 26 balls to spare. The 37-year-old, who came in as an impact sub once again, also put 63 runs together for the opening stand with Ryan Rickleton, who fell for 24 off Ravindra Jadeja, to lay the foundations of Mumbai’s third straight win.

On the contrary, Chennai, who are being led by Dhoni in the absence of regular skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad, who had pulled out injured mid-season, crashed to their sixth defeat in eight matches to stay bottom of the 10-team table.

How can Chennai still qualify for IPL 2025 playoffs?

Despite managing just four points from eight matches thus far, Chennai aren’t entirely out of the race to make the playoffs yet. Not to forget, Royal Challengers Bengaluru showed last year by making the next round of the league with just 14 points, the first of its kind since the tournament expanded to 10 teams.