Skipper Faf du Plessis credited Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s newfound aggression for an impressive revival in the Indian Premier League after the Virat Kohli side upstaged the Delhi Capitals to remain in the playoff race on Sunday. Dubbed as perennial underachievers in the cash-rich league, RCB lost seven of their first eight matches at the IPL 2024. However, the Bengaluru heavyweights staged a stunning comeback by winning their last five games in the lead-up to the playoffs.
Speaking of RCB‘s incredible IPL 2024 comeback, former Indian pacer Zaheer Khan praised the Bengaluru team for making it into the playoffs this year, giving them “full marks.” In the 2024 edition of the richest T20 league in the world, no IPL team has won five straight games. The Kohli-led team moved up to fifth place in the IPL 2024 standings yesterday thanks to the team’s 47-run victory over DC. With two games remaining in the IPL 2024 season, RCB trails 2016 champion Sunrisers Hyderabad.
In the 62nd IPL 2024 match, Royal Challengers Bengaluru batted first and scored 187-9 in 20 overs. Kohli, the holder of the Orange Cap, was out for 27 off 13 balls. Will Jacks, the team’s top batter, scored 41 runs off of 29 balls, and Rajat Patidar lit up the scoreboard with a blistering 52 runs off of 32 balls. Cameron Green’s 32-ball cameo assisted in reaching 187-9 in 20 overs. To ensure that DC folded for 140 in 19.1 overs, Yash Dayal (3) and Lockie Ferguson (2) of the Royals shared five wickets.
Without passion, this would not be possible by RCB —Zaheer Khan
In a recent interview, he discussed the team’s exceptional performance and mentioned that it does not happen without passion. He praised the team for winning five straight matches despite losing the first half of the tournament, and he also expressed his belief that if everything is set up correctly, there is no chance that the RCB will not make the most of their star player, Virat Kohli.
“They lost six in a row and have now picked up five consecutive wins. This does not happen without passion, so you have to appreciate that. We do not usually see a team revive its season like this after so many losses, so RCB gets full marks. Whatever you can control is what you base your expectations on, and Royals is showing that,” said Zaheer Khan
“Their last match is against CSK, so one of those teams, or both of them, could end up with 14 points. Due to this, the other results are important. They have improved their run rate as well. If all these things go Royal’s way until the final match, it will be an extremely interesting contest,” he added.