KKR Eliminated IPL 2025 : The cricket gods can be cruel sometimes. Just ask the Kolkata Knight Riders fans who watched helplessly as Saturday’s thunderstorms washed away not just their match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, but their title defense dreams as well.
In what can only be described as a heartbreaking way to bow out, the defending champions saw their IPL 2025 campaign officially end without a single ball being bowled at a waterlogged M Chinnaswamy Stadium yesterday. As sheets of rain pounded the outfield and lightning cracked overhead, even the toss couldn’t take place – the weather seemingly having the final say in KKR’s fate.
“I’ve covered cricket for twenty years, but there’s still something particularly gut-wrenching about seeing a team’s season end this way,” remarked former India international Ajay Sharma from the commentary box as groundstaff fought a losing battle against the elements.
The washout – the fourth no-result this season – gifted both teams a solitary point each. For RCB, it was enough to catapult them to the summit of the table. For KKR, it was the final nail in a coffin that had been steadily closing for weeks.
Let’s do the math: KKR now have 12 points from 13 games. Even if they win their final match, they’ll finish with just 14 points – simply not enough in a season where 15 appears to be the magic number for playoff qualification.
It’s been that kind of season for Shreyas Iyer’s men. Stop-start. Inconsistent. Frustrating.
“This isn’t the KKR we saw last year,” I overheard a drenched fan say as he sheltered under the stands. “Last season they were ruthless – you had to produce something special to beat them. This year? They’ve looked vulnerable from the get-go.”
He’s not wrong. The Knights have struggled to build momentum all tournament, with victories immediately followed by defeats – a far cry from their dominant 2024 campaign where they looked unstoppable en route to lifting the trophy.
But lady luck hasn’t smiled on them either. This marks their second washout of the season after their Eden Gardens clash against Punjab Kings earlier this month also fell victim to the pre-monsoon showers that have battered eastern India.
KKR join an ever-growing list of eliminated franchises that already includes Chennai Super Kings, Sunrisers Hyderabad, and Rajasthan Royals – all heavyweight teams now watching the business end of the tournament from the sidelines.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the emotional spectrum, Virat Kohli’s RCB find themselves sitting pretty atop the points table with 17 points. Though they haven’t mathematically clinched a playoff berth yet, you’d need a supercomputer to calculate the sequence of catastrophic results required to deny them now.
Three other teams could potentially reach 17 points, setting up a net run rate battle in a worst-case scenario. But even that would require RCB to lose their remaining matches and several other results to conspire against them.
“We’re taking nothing for granted,” RCB captain Kohli told me during a brief moment under the stadium roof as rain continued to pour. “But we’re where we want to be at this stage of the tournament – controlling our own destiny.”
The Royal Challengers’ position could be cemented as early as today if either Delhi Capitals lose to Gujarat Titans or Punjab Kings stumble against Rajasthan Royals.
For Bengaluru fans who’ve endured 17 seasons without tasting IPL glory, the prospect of entering the playoffs as table-toppers has the cricket-mad city daring to dream again.
As I left the stadium last night, the sky still weeping, I couldn’t help but reflect on cricket’s fickle nature – one team’s dreams washed away, another’s flourishing. That’s sport for you. That’s the IPL. Magnificent, unpredictable, and occasionally, heartbreaking.
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