Aakash Chopra, a former Indian cricket player, has selected the four teams he thinks have the best chance of making it to the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 playoffs. According to him, if the five-time champions Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals don’t have any significant form or fitness problems, they should place first and second in the league stage.
Mumbai Indians, Punjab Kings, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, and Gujarat Titans advanced to the playoffs in 2025. After defeating Punjab Kings by six runs in the final, Royal Challengers Bengaluru won their first IPL championship.
“This is a tough one. No one knows because there are multiple variables like form, fitness, how the pitches would be, how much luck favors you, and all of that. However, the Mumbai Indians and the Delhi Capitals are the two teams that look very good to me on paper,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
“If all their players remain fit and available, and the form remains decent, they actually should finish as No. 1 and No. 2 ideally, but one doesn’t know where they would go. However, I feel they should definitely qualify,” he added.
In his projected playoff roster, Aakash Chopra selected Royal Challengers Bengaluru as the fourth team and Punjab Kings as the third. However, he pointed out that the absence of several important players has had a big impact on RCB. In spite of this, he thinks the Bengaluru-based team is still capable of making it to the postseason.
“I feel the Punjab Kings are the third team that should qualify. I am thinking about the Royal Challengers Bengaluru as the fourth, although good news is not coming from the RCB camp. The Nuwan Thushara news came now. So things are not really setting up quite nicely for RCB,” said Chopra.
“However, when I see the other teams and this team’s depth and strength, I feel RCB should be the fourth team. However, one of these four might miss out, and a fifth team might come in. That could be any team,” he added.
The retired cricketer became a pundit, and he further said that there would be a formidable opponent to a postseason ticket to the Lucknow Super Giants and Gujarat Titans. He continued to state that Sunrisers Hyderabads, Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings would not find it easy to qualify from the playoffs this year.
