The 12th edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) has not gone well for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). They started with six consecutive losses. However, they bounced back later but that was not enough for them to qualify for the playoffs. Surprisingly the top three teams in the point table ended at 18 points while the next three has 12 points and the final two has 11 points. Due to a better net run-rate, Sunrisers Hyderabad qualified for the playoffs along with Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi, while RCB finished at the last.

After a dismal starting, they won their five out of final six games with wrapping up a 4-wicket win over Hyderabad. However, AB de Villiers, the star batsman of Bangalore thinks they were just a win away of reaching the playoffs.

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“It’s a fantastic way to finish, very sad to see that we were one win away from possibly making it to the knockouts. Crazy to see how close the margins are in this tournament. But it was a nice way to finish, there was a lot of talent we discovered this year,” said de Villiers.

“Looking forward to next season, just want to thank everyone at the Chinnaswamy and the RCBians for supporting us through thick and thin,” de Villiers was quoted as saying by Timesnownews.com.

However, AB de Villiers played well in this season for the Bangalore franchise. He amassed 442 runs in 13 games at an average of 44 with the strike-rate of 154 which included 26 sixes and 31 boundaries. ABD hit five half-centuries as well with the highest score was unbeaten 82. He became the second highest scorer for Bangalore after captain Virat Kohli who scored 464 runs in 14 games.