Ravichandran Ashwin's "Gujarati, Telugu" Take Sums Up IPL 2023 Playoffs Race

With just one slot up for grabs, three teams -- Royal Challengers Bangalore, Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals -- are still in contention for the Indian Premier League (IPL) playoffs. RR's league campaign came to an end on Friday, following their win over Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Dharamsala. However, RCB are in pole position to take the final playoffs spot if they beat defending champions Gujarat Titans in their final league match on Sunday. MI, on the other hand, need a favour from GT, but also have to beat SunRisers Hyderabad in their final game, prior to the match at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

RCB have a better Net Run Rate (NRR) than MI and RR and win for them would dash MI and RR's hopes. But, for RR to go through to the next round, both RCB and MI would need to lose their respective matches with a certain margin.

Taking to Twitter, RR spinner Ravichandran Ashwin summed up the mood in his team's camp ahead of the final round of matches on Sunday.

"When you are trying to tell everyone that  Gujarati food should be our favourite and Telugu should become our teams official language for today," Ashwin captioned a photo.

When you are trying to tell everyone that Gujarati food should be our favourite and Telugu should become our teams official language for today. @rajasthanroyals #HallaBolkonjamnallabol #AavaDe #orangearmy pic.twitter.com/T9K3fMA4a7

RCB, MI and RR are all tied on 14 points, but the 2008 champions' games in the league stage are done and dusted.

Since Rajasthan's NRR is better than MI's, they would, the only hurdle in front of them would be the Royal Challengers. But, if the Faf du Plessis' led side lose by a reasonable margin, since the NRR difference between the two sides isn't much, the Royals will go