The real meat and potatoes of the IPL season has arrived. With each team now having played four or five games, everyone has an idea of what every team’s strengths and weaknesses are, as the Points Table begins to take shape.

At the very top remain defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru with 8 points, followed by Rajasthan Royals, both on 8 points. Punjab Kings have 7 points, and after them comes a stretch of five teams in the midtable spots with 4 points, all of whom have intentions of the top 4. Kolkata Knight Riders are rooted to the bottom, on a solitary 1 point.

The IPL Points Table is where all the preparation and performances over the course of a long, competitive season come to bear fruit. For the ten IPL franchises, there is nothing more important than the Points Table, and nothing more crucial than finishing in the top four. The Points Table grants two points for every win, which add up over the course of a 14-match season, with the calculations of net run rate acting as the tiebreaker.

The Points Table has two important races that are decided every season. These are finishing in the top four, with those teams heading to the IPL Playoffs for the season, and finishing in the top two, which allows teams two bites at the apple and an extra match even if they lose in the playoffs.

The IPL Points Table is the ultimate unbiased adjudicator. How teams perform on the field evens out and boils down to a simple set of numbers, calculated to separate the best from the rest. But this has provided some thrills and spills when it comes to playoff races, with some famous ones including the Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals going head-to-head in that notorious match at the Wankhede Stadium in 2014, or the Royal Challengers Bengaluru outdoing Chennai Super Kings in a fierce rivalry match to upturn the Net Run Rate deficit in 2024.

In the IPL 2025 season, it was Punjab Kings under the captaincy of Shreyas Iyer who finished top of the tree in the IPL Points Table, finishing on 19 points. Royal Challengers Bengaluru also had 19 points and finished in second place. Gujarat Titans were right behind in third place on 18 points, while Mumbai Indians completed the playoff picture with 16 points after a late charge. Delhi Capitals agonisingly missed out by just one point.

The IPL introduced a new playoff system in 2011, the eliminator era, and has not moved away from that formula ever since. To reward the teams who finished nearer the top of the table, the teams who finish first and second receive entry into Qualifier 1. The victor of Qualifier 1 heads to the final, while the loser gets another chance in Qualifier 2. The teams who finish in third and fourth play the Eliminator, with the winner heading to Qualifier 2 for a chance at a spot in the final, while the loser goes home with nothing to show.

Statistical history of the IPL Points Table

Historically, the first team to finish top of the table in the IPL were Rajasthan Royals, who were guided by Shane Warne to finish first in the very first season in 2008. The Royals would go on to win that season of the IPL, making their quality count.

In the history of the Eliminator era, the team which has finished on top of the table has been to the final 12 out of 15 times. In the 18-year history of the IPL, the team finishing on top of the table has won the entire title six times, whereas the team finishing in second has won the title nine times. The team finishing third or fourth has gone on to lift the title on the other three occasions, but only once since the institution of the Eliminator format –Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2016.

The team that has finished in first position the most times in the history of the IPL is the one which is its most successful, Mumbai Indians. The MI team first table-topped in 2010 and then proceeded to finish on top of the pile in 2019, 2019, and again in 2020 in their golden period of dominance. The team to finish top second-most often is surprisingly the Delhi Capitals franchise, who unfortunately have nothing to show for finishing top on three occasions – in 2009, 2012, and 2021.

Along with the 2019-20 Mumbai Indians team, only one other time has a team finished first in two consecutive seasons – Gujarat Titans in their debut and sophomore years, in 2022 and 2024.

Each of the eight original franchises of the IPL from 2008 have finished top of the table on at least one occasion, with Kolkata Knight Riders having to wait the longest – the first time they finished on top of the table was in their victorious 2024 campaign.

Teams that finished top of the Points Table in every IPL season

2008 – Rajasthan Royals (won)
2009 – Delhi Daredevils
2010 – Mumbai Indians
2011 – Royal Challengers Bangalore
2012 – Delhi Daredevils
2013 – Chennai Super Kings
2014 – Kings XI Punjab
2015 – Chennai Super Kings
2016 – Gujarat Lions
2017 – Mumbai Indians (won)
2018 – Sunrisers Hyderabad
2019 – Mumbai Indians (won)
2020 – Mumbai Indians (won)
2021 – Delhi Capitals
2022 – Gujarat Titans (won)
2023 – Gujarat Titans
2024 – Kolkata Knight Riders (won)
2025 – Punjab Kings