WPL 2026 Playoff Qualification Scenarios: Defending champions Mumbai Indians find themselves in an unprecedented corner in the Women's Premier League 2026. The two-time champions are struggling to secure their place in the play-offs stage. Led by India's World Cup-winning skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, MI have had a largely inconsistent and disappointing run in the season.
Despite boasting strong depth in either department, MI have never quite played at their very best. The titleholders have just three victories and four defeats next to their name after seven games. Even though they are placed second in the table with 6 points, MI could well slip down to the fourth spot and miss out on the next round. To avoid such a poor end to their campaign, Harmanpreet & co need to pull their socks up and come up with a strong display in their last league game versus the Gujarat Giants on January 30, while hoping that other results go their way.
WPL 2026 Points Table After MI vs RCB Match
| Position | Team | P | W | L | Points | NRR |
| 1 | RCB | 7 | 5 | 2 | 10 | 0.947 |
| 2 | MI | 7 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 0.146 |
| 3 | DC | 6 | 3 | 3 | 6 | -0.169 |
| 4 | GG | 6 | 3 | 3 | 6 | -0.341 |
| 5 | UPW | 6 | 2 | 4 | 4 | -0.769 |
How Can Mumbai Indians Qualify For The Women's Premier League Playoffs?
With four games remaining in the overall league stage, much of MI's fortunes do rest on other teams' shoulders. With two mid-table sides, Delhi Capitals (3 wins, 3 losses) and Gujarat Giants (3 wins, 3 losses), set to collide on Tuesday, Jan. 27, one of those two teams will momentarily displace MI at the second spot behind No.1-ranked Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
MI will then need a favour from the in-form RCB side against the fifth-placed UP Warriorz on Thursday, Jan. 29, needing that Smriti Mandhana & co take them out of the play-offs race with their fifth loss in seven games. The following day, when MI take on the Giants, Harmanpreet's team require a strong victory that doesn't just take them to 8 points but also gives them a significant NRR boost. Lose this match, however, and they are most likely out of the competition.
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A strong net run-rate could subsequently come into the picture and determine the equation for either the Capitals or the Giants, when the Capitals face off against the Warriorz in the final league game of the competition on Feb. 1. If the Capitals beat the Giants and the Warriorz both, MI should be able to progress to the final round provided they themselves beat the Giants. However, if the Giants beat the Capitals in their upcoming clash, MI would hope that the Warriorz can either defeat the Capitals or lose by a margin that doesn't allow the Capitals to inch over their NRR. Even a third-place finish will allow MI to play the eliminator on Feb. 3.
If MI lose to GG, they would then need DC to drop their final two matches and RCB to beat UPW. That scenario would create a three-way tie at six points between MI, DC, and UPW, with qualification decided by NRR. However, if DC defeat GG on Tuesday and MI later lose to GG, the two-time champions will be eliminated.
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