In their last league match at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday, Royal Challengers Bengaluru defeated Chennai Super Kings by 27 runs to make a stunning comeback to their IPL 2024 fortunes and earn a spot in the playoffs.

In spite of losing this game, CSK needed to guarantee a loss of no more than 17 runs in order to qualify for the Playoffs. Despite late heroics from Ravindra Jadeja (42 not out off 22 balls) and a cameo from MS Dhoni (25 off 13), CSK ended on 191 for seven while chasing a 219-run total.

In spite of their continuous defeats, RCB qualified because of their higher Net Run Rate (NRR), which served as a tiebreaker when all four teams had identical wins and points.

It's interesting to note that in 17 editions, this is the first time CSK has placed fifth in the points standings. There are just two other times in their history that they have finished outside of the Playoffs.

With six victories in a row, RCB has achieved the second-best winning streak in IPL history, only surpassed by their seven victories in the 2011 edition, in which they were defeated by CSK in the championship match.