Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) got off to a poor start in the first half of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 as they reached the playoffs after winning their sixth consecutive match. On Saturday, May 18, RCB beat Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in front of their home fans at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium to reach the playoffs for the fourth time in five seasons as well.
However, Ruturaj Gaikwad won the toss and elected to field first, where RCB posted a massive total. They were required to win by 18 runs or more to overtake Chennai on net run rate (NRR) and reach the playoffs. In the end, the RCB won by 27 runs to secure a spot in the Eliminator and they knocked the CSK out in the process.
However, after the match, the official social media handle of RCB posted a video from Queens Road where thousands of fans escorted the team bus to the hotel after the monumental win. “This was at 1:30 am tonight… This is what makes it all the more special. We have the best fans in the world and we’re so proud of it,” RCB wrote.
This was at 1:30 am tonight… This is what makes it all the more special. ❤ We have the best fans in the world and we’re so proud of it. 🤗#PlayBold #ನಮ್ಮRCB #IPL2024 #RCBvCSK pic.twitter.com/tVnVRoxQ8O
— Royal Challengers Bengaluru (@RCBTweets) May 18, 2024
After the match, Faf du Plessis, RCB captain and Player of the Match said: “What a night. Unbelievable and such a great atmosphere, such a pleasure to finish off the season at home with a win. Batting first, I think it was the hardest pitch I have ever played on in T20s. Myself and Virat were talking about 140-150 after we came back from the rain break. The communication from the umpires was there was a lot of rain on the pitch, they wanted to push the game and that makes sense. When we came back, my goodness, I was telling Mitch Santner it was like a day 5 Test match at Ranchi and to get 200 on that was unbelievable. The last 6 games the batters have batted with good intent and good strike-rate. We were slow earlier on and we wanted more intent and that was awesome.”
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“We were defending 175, it got a bit close, at one stage, with MS there, I thought, oh dear, he has done it so many times. The way we bowled with the wet ball was unbelievable, we tried to change it. I dedicate this Man of the Match to Yash Dayal. The way he bowled was unbelievable. For a man who’s fairly new, he deserves it. [on what he told Dayal before the last over] Pace off is the best option on this pitch and trust your skills and enjoy, this is what you trained for. The yorker did not work the 1st ball and he went back to pace off and it worked unbelievably well. [on the crowd tonight] It’s crazy, even when we weren’t winning the fans were here. We in the changeroom we felt it was something we had to get right. Coming here tonight, it was set up nicely, CSK v RCB, unbelievable atmosphere and we as a team will do a lap of honour to thank the crowd for the support. It’s really important that we enjoy this, great 6 games in a row and the first goal in the IPL is to get into the knockouts and we have done that, enjoy this but get back to work tomorrow,” he concluded.
