Can Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings qualify for IPL 2022 play-offs?

The two most decorated teams of the Indian Premier League are currently in the middle of one of their worst ever slumps. And there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel.

Five-time champions Mumbai Indians have lost their first six matches. Title holders Chennai have won just once.

Mumbai captain Rohit Sharma has lifted the IPL trophy six times - once as member of the now defunct Deccan Chargers franchise. It was his IPL record, plus winning touch in multi-team tournaments, that landed him India's captaincy across formats.

Equally illustrious has been the record of Chennai, who have reached the IPL final nine times. MS Dhoni had been their leader throughout, and was expected to do so this time as well. But days before the first match of the new season, Dhoni handed over the captaincy to Ravindra Jadeja.

The writing was pretty much on the wall for Mumbai during the auction earlier in the year as they invested in an unfit Jofra Archer - possibly with an eye on 2023 - which meant their attack was pretty much Jasprit Bumrah and nothing much else. The poor batting form of Rohit and record acquisition Ishan Kishan has hurt them even more.

Chennai have issues of their own, with Dhoni still seeming to be in charge with Jadeja regularly stationed at the boundary during the closing stages of matches. They. too, pretty much put all their bowling eggs in one basket - Deepak Chahar - who has been ruled out of the tournament.

So is this the end of the road already for Mumbai and Chennai?

This edition of IPL has 10 teams. However, the organisers have capped the number of matches each franchise plays to 14 - same as last year when eight teams were in operation.

It means both Mumbai and Chennai have eight games remaining in the