Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s campaign at the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL), which ranged from outright extraordinary in the second half to extraordinarily poor in the first, met its conclusion on Wednesday (22 May). Losing out to Rajasthan Royals by four wickets in the Eliminator, Bengaluru’s wait for the elusive maiden title was further prolonged.
However, despite his team’s hopes of lifting the silverware not materialising, RCB captain Faf du Plessis stated he was ‘extremely proud’ of what his players had achieved, for they became the first-ever team in the competition’s history to qualify for the playoffs after losing seven of the first eight matches.
I am extremely proud. A lot of teams would have their wheels falling off after 1 win from 9 matches (8). But we made sure that we gave our best and to come back like that, winning six games in a row, it takes a lot of heart and character.Faf du Plessis
RCB’s batting unit, which has been collectively brilliant in the last few matches, looked fragile in the Eliminator, as they could only accumulate 172 runs and lost eight wickets whilst doing so. According to the skipper, they were unsuccessful in the bid to push for an additional 20 runs.
With the dew coming in, we thought we were short with the bat. I thought we were 20 runs shy of what would have been a good score. Credit to the boys for fighting it out really well. If you look at naturally assessing the pitch, it looked like a 180 pitch. But we found out this season that with the impact player and long line-ups, the par score is not enough anymore. We knew we had to score more to challenge them. We weren't special tonight in terms of pushing for the extra 20 runs.Faf du Plessis
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