The race for the IPL 2024 playoffs is heating up with Rajasthan Royals in pole position and not a single team going out of contention yet in the competition. While RR have dominated the competition till now with 14 points, the trio of Kolkata Knight Riders, Lucknow Super Giants and Sunrisers Hyderabad are all on 10 points each. Chennai Super Kings, Delhi Capitals and Gujarat Titans are also in hot pursuit with 8 points each. Former Indian cricket team Navjot Singh Sidhu picked RR, KKR and CSK as his picks to reach the IPL 2024 playoffs with the fourth spot being a toss-up between SRH and Mumbai Indians.

“Teen teams ko select he kar rahi hai apne aap ko. Chennai Super Kings ho gaya, KKR ho gayi, and Rajasthan Royals ho gaya. 2 teams aisi hai jo mujhe lagta hai… Ek toh Sunrisers Hyderabad, aur ek pata nahi kyu, ek aisa daav khelne ko dil karta hai chahe kuch bhi ho, Mumbai (Indians). I always feel Mumbai Indians have the tenacity to cloud over difficult situations. Choone ki chatt hai vo, jitne thappad maarte jaoge utni he shakt hoti jayegi. If they can sort out their bowling and Hardik comes back into his own, Mumbai is a lethal side boss. Superb team,” Sidhu said on a video posted by Star Sports.

Mumbai Indians have struggled to gain momentum in the IPL 2024 campaign as they are eighth in the points table with three victories. The Hardik Pandya-led side has been at the centre of controversies and things did not improve as they slumped to three consecutive defeats at the start of the competition.

Earlier, Sidhu has his say on the chatter surrounding Hardik replacing Rohit Sharma as the MI captain.

“Nobody can digest the fact that India’s hero, India’s captain, is not the captain of our franchise. ‘What wrong has he done?’ is what fans of the franchise would be thinking,” Sidhu said on Star Sports.

“But what does he have to do? There is nothing that succeeds like success. If he had won these two matches, there wouldn’t have been any noise,” he added.