WPL 2026 scenarios: Which teams will qualify for the playoffs?

WPL 2026: Points table after match no.11

Royal Challengers Bengaluru

With four wins out of four, RCB could not have asked for a better first half of the season. They are hot favourites to make the top three (not mathematically assured yet), but their focus now will be on top spot, for automatic qualification to the final.

Naturally, RCB’s fate is in their own hands. In fact, a win over GG in their following game will seal a top-three spot and simultaneously ensure that no team can collect more points than them. A single victory in the three games that follow that will get them first place: they can avoid playing the Eliminator in that case.

Even if RCB lose all four remaining matches, they can qualify for the playoffs, but that will depend on other results.

Mumbai Indians

MI occupy second spot right now, but still have a losing record; two wins to three defeats. Their route to the top three is not straightforward.

Three wins out of three will take them into the playoffs. Two wins will likely be enough, but they will not assure them anything since net run rate will come into play.

Collecting just one win makes things dicey; if that victory comes against DC, they need UPW to drop points in all three games. If the remaining RCB game is their solitary win, they will need specific results in five other matches to qualify. If they are to win only one game, GG is the best bet, but that is their last league game – they could be eliminated by then.

Gujarat Giants

Gujarat won two on the bounce before losing two in a row. Their advantage over the teams immediately above and below them is the game in hand; they have four to go. The problem is their next game, which is against runaway table-toppers RCB. A loss there gives them the same record as MI and UPW.

The RCB match also presents an opportunity: a victory will give them – based purely on result combinations – a roughly 81 per cent chance of making the top three, with the rider that a tie in third place could still send them out on net run rate.

Even if they lose to RCB though, victories over UP and DC in the following two fixtures will ensure that they are at least tied on points for third place. A third win will earn them qualification.

Read more: WPL 2026 mid-season report cards: How the five teams have fared so far

UP Warriorz

UP have an identical record to MI in second place, and only sit outside the qualification spots on net run rate. Interestingly, they also have the same three opposition remaining; GG, DC and RCB.

Therefore, whatever holds for MI to qualify also holds for UP, with one important distinction. Since UP’s final match is the last of the group stage, they will have the slight advantage of knowing the exact net run rate requirements during the game, if they need to break a tie.

Delhi Capitals

At the conclusion of the Navi Mumbai leg, DC skipper Jemimah Rodrigues said her team had “nothing to lose” going to Vadodara. Having won just one out of four games so far, it is hard to argue against.

Winning all four games guarantees that DC will finish with one of the top-two point totals, but even then they can be knocked out on net run rate (at present it is the worst in the league, at -0.856).

Anything fewer than four wins, and Delhi will not even be assured of a tie for third place. In short, their campaign is only half-done and yet, their fate is already largely out of their hands.

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