IPL 2025: Will the current top four hold on until playoffs?

With the halfway stage of IPL 2025 now past us, here’s a look at how the points table looks. At the time of publishing this article, the top four teams on the IPL Challengers Bengaluru (10 points) and Punjab Kings (10 points). At fifth, also with 10 points, are Lucknow Super Giants. 

No team in the lower half of the points table has as many points. Mumbai Indians are on eight, followed by Kolkata Knight Riders with six and four each to Rajasthan Royals, Sunrisers Hyderabad, and Chennai Super Kings. 

On the face of it, more than just what separates the top four from the others on points, it is the way they’ve played their cricket that suggest that barring a drastic change of events, these franchises should keep ahead in the race for the playoffs. That said, we’ve seen stranger things across the past 17 IPL seasons, haven’t we? 

What separates GT from other teams is their consistent top three comprising Shubman Gill, Sai Sudarshan, and Jos Buttler. Sudarshan holds the Orange Cap for most runs with 447 after eight matches, Buttler is third with 356 and GT skipper Gill is at 10th place with 305. The closest in terms of consistency at the top is LSG, with Nicholas Pooran at second on the chart with 377 followed by Mitchell Marsh (344) at fourth and Aiden Markram (326) at sixth place. 

While the LSG top three of Markram, Marsh and Pooran have also all struck at 150 plus – Pooran is streets ahead with a strike-rate of nearly 205 after nine innings – the volume of runs from Gill, Sudarshan and Buttler has been buttressed by the performances of GT’s bowlers. 

They possess the Purple Cap holder for most wickets in Prasidh Krishna, who has so far claimed 16, backed by left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore who is at second place with 12. Mohammed Siraj also has 12 to sit at sixth on the wickets’ table. This is what sets GT apart from other teams, in terms of the shared workload and success. And with Gill settling into the captaincy role better than last season, this looks like a team destined for the playoffs. 

Under a new captain in Axar Patel, the Capitals shot off the blocks with four wins in a row before blowing a chase of 206 against MI, followed by a second loss to GT after they made 203. The arrival of KL Rahul from LSG has been a big positive but barring his 323 runs at a strike-rate of 153.80 only Abishek Porel (225) has made it to 200 for the season. Mitchell Starc has been expensive, but his 11 wickets have no doubt helped DC get to where they are. Kuldeep Yadav is their leading bowler and he’s only gone wicketless in one match, plus he’s got a terrific economy rate of 6.50. But barring Mukesh Kumar, Delhi lack firepower – Axar has just one wicket so far, inexplicably – and this is where other teams should look to capitalize as the race to playoffs intensifies. 

With some key personnel changes, RCB under Rajat Patidar are at third on the points table. After back-to-back wins on the road, RCB have lost all three of their games at home and will need to buck this sorry trend to stay in the top four. Their bowling unit has been better than in past seasons, with Josh Hazlewood (12) and Krunal Pandya (10) the standouts, backed by Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Yash Dayal. 

The batting still revolves around Kohli, who heads the pack with 322 at an average of 64 and a strike-rate of 140. His new opening partner Phil Salt has been inconsistent, but the return of a re-energized Devdutt Padikkal at No 3 has been a big plus. If Patidar, Jitesh Sharma and Tim David can up their game, RCB will have a few more teams sweating in the business end of the season. 

Under Shreyas Iyer and with Ricky Ponting as head coach, PBKS have shown signs of making it to the playoffs for the first time in a decade. The problem is the unpredictability. This team has defended totals of 243 and 111, but also failed to defend 245. Iyer began with a bang but has fizzled out, which has left the opening pair of Prabhsimran Singh and rookie Priyansh Arya to do the work inside the Powerplay overs, but the real concern is the non-performance of the Australian pair of Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis.

Punjab don’t have viable overseas alternatives, and thus getting Iyer back to optimum level and beyond will be critical to their playoff chances. 

Rishabh Pant has been a massive flop for LSG, who despite a superb top order will need to significantly improve to stay in the playoffs race. Under Hardik Pandya, MI have shown the odd spark and fans of the franchise will hope that Rohit Sharma’s return to some sort of form in the previous match, as well as the reinstatement of Suryakumar Yadav at one-down proves the necessary upswinging in fortunes. 

Defending champions KKR have been sloppy. Not one batsman has stood out and the bowling too has been erratic. Their most recent loss was painful to watch, as KKR’s middle order struggled to accelerate against GT’s spinners. Like RR below them, KKR will need a turnaround of epic proportions to make it into the top four.

As for SRH and CSK, both are bogged down by batting, bowling and fielding problems and their respective campaigns have long hit desperation point.