Follow UsRoyal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) defeated Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to confirm a spot in the playoffs of the 2024 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) after winning their sixth game on the trot.
In a high-intensity thriller played in front of a jam-packed Chinnaswamy and under dark clouds pregnant with rain, RCB scored 218/5 in a rain-interrupted innings. Virat Kohli was quick off the blocks and scored 47 off just 29 deliveries. Meanwhile, skipper Faf du Plessis smashed 54 runs in 39 deliveries and took a spell-binding catch that had him suspended in the air.
Chasing 219, CSK had to reach 201 runs to assure themselves of a spot in the top four, but they fell short by 10 runs of the qualification score. The yellow team kept losing wickets from the first ball of their chase, and despite Rachin Ravindra’s 61 (37), Ravindra Jadeja’s 42(22) and MS Dhoni’s 25(13), they weren’t able to chase down either the target or the qualification score.
Speaking at the post-match presentation, RCB skipper du Plessis, also the Player of the Match, was visibly elated after his team’s miraculous comeback.
“What a night! Such a great atmosphere. “Just a pleasure to finish the season before the home crowd. The contributions from many batters at good strike rates [makes me] really proud,” the Proteas said.
When asked if he was defending 201 or 218, du Plessis cheekily admitted, “[Neither 201 nor 218], we were defending 175. It got a bit close at one stage with MS [Dhoni] there. I thought, oh dear, he has done it so many times!”
He gave special credit to Yash Dayal, who bowled the last over and defended 17 runs in the last over against Dhoni and Jadeja.
“I wanted to give Yash Dayal the Man of the Match award. His bowling was unbelievable. For a man who's fairly new, he deserves it.”
Speaking on the discussions he had with Dayal before the last over, du Plessis said, “Pace off is the best option and trust your skills and enjoy, this is what you trained for. The yorker did not work the first ball, and he went back to pace off, and it worked unbelievably well.”
When asked about the pitch and how it affects their batting, du Plessis was quite open to accepting the challenge it presented.
"Batting first, I think it was the hardest pitch I have ever played on. Virat and I 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. and when we came back my god, I was telling Mitch Santner it was like a day 5 pitch at Ranchi and to get 200 on that was unbelievable.”
Before signing off, the RCB skipper didn’t forget to thank the crowd and acknowledged that their support kept them going in the tournament despite the incredulity of the task at hand.
“It's crazy. Even when we weren't winning, the fans were here. We felt in the changeroom that it was something we had to get right. Coming here tonight, it was set up nicely: CSK vs RCB. There is an 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. It's been a great six games in a row, and the first goal is to get into the knockouts. Enjoy this, but get back to work tomorrow.”
RCB will now play the Eliminator in Ahmedabad on May 22.