Mumbai, May 21 - With just two preliminary round matches remaining, the 2023 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is all set for a thrilling finale which will explode into a flurry of action on Sunday that will eventually unravel the mystery of which team completes the lineup for the Playoffs, starting in Chennai on Tuesday (May 23). 

Three teams -- defending champions Gujarat Titans, Chennai Super Kings and Lucknow Super Giants -- have clinched their berths in the Playoffs. Gujarat Titans are at the top of the pile with 18 points from 13 matches while Chennai Super Kings and Lucknow Super Giants are tied at 17 points each with CSK securing the second spot based on their better Net Run Rate -- 0.652 as compared to 0.284 of LSG.

Three teams -- Royal Challengers Bangalore, Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians -- are tied on 14 points and in this same order. 

Thus, in the race for the fourth Playoff spot, The equation is simple for both RCB and MI -- they have to win their respective last league match and hope that the other team suffers a defeat.

For example, if MI win and RCB lose, the former will qualify for the Playoffs and vice-versa. Rajasthan Royals will qualify only in case both Mumbai Indians and RCB lose their final preliminary league matches.

Currently, RCB have an NRR of 0.180, Rajasthan have 0.148 while Mumbai Indians are lagging behind with an NRR of 0.120. In case both MI and RCB lose, their NRR will change and RR will be hoping that to be enough to overtake RCB and get into the Playoffs.

The NRR of RCB and Mumbai Indians will change after their respective matches, thus MI will be aiming to secure a massive win against SRH at the Wankhede in the afternoon match while hoping that RCB lose against GT.

They will also pray to the Almighty that even if RCB win, the overall impact on their NRR is not much -- the five-time champions thus overtaking RCB and finishing fourth.

Ditto for Royal Challengers Bangalore. The Faf Du Plessis-led side will be looking to win against Gujarat Titans and hope that MI lose to SRH. In the worst-case scenario, Bangalore will like Rohit Sharma's side to register a narrow win so that its impact on their NRR is not enough and RCB thus remain in the fourth position in the points table.

So, Sunday's two matches will unravel the mystery of the points table with the fourth position finally settled.