Royal Challengers Bengaluru staged a remarkable comeback to qualify for the playoff stage of IPL 2024. They looked down and out at number 10th spot with only 1 win from 8 matches they played.
RCB produced a superb performance winning matches against SRH, twice against Gujarat Titans, Delhi Capitals, and Punjab Kings, and other results going in their favor. They needed to win the match against CSK by 18 runs or 11 balls to spare. RCB did a grand job restricting them under 201 to qualify for the playoffs in 4th spot.
3 reasons for RCB’s remarkable turnaround to qualify for the playoff stage:
- Virat Kohli’s form
Virat Kohli looked impressive with his batting, keeping the pressure on the bowlers. His strike rate in the first phase was 130 plus. Kohli then upped the ante with a stunning strike rate of 190 plus.
Kohli played attacking cricket right from the word go and did not allow the bowlers to settle. He was lethal against the spinners hitting sweeps that made life tough. He is currently the leading run-getter in the tournament so far with 708 runs from 14 matches (14 innings) including 1 century and 5 half-centuries to his name including the best score of 113 not out against RR.
Kohli will be looking to showcase his attacking skills against RR on 22nd May and help RCB to play the same brand of cricket.
Glenn Maxwell failed badly with 32 runs from 6 innings while Faf du Plessis got starts but was not able to convert it into a big score.
- Rajat Patidar’s brilliance
Rajat Patidar also played a key role in helping RCB to qualify for the playoffs. He looked impressive with well made 50 against Mumbai Indians but could not convert it into a big score. He struggled in the first half after a disappointing test series against England at home.
Patidar then showed aggression from the Sunrisers Hyderabad match in Hyderabad hitting 4 sixes in an over against Mayank Markande. He then kept the momentum going with fifties against Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals that helped RCB post decent totals.
He then came up with another superb knock against CSK that helped RCB post 218 for 5. Patidar did not get a chance to bat in 2 matches as he scored so far 361 runs from 14 matches (12 innings) with 5 half-centuries to his name including his best score of 55 against PBKS. His strike rate in the tournament has been 179.60 and hopes to continue his attacking form against RR or beyond.
- Resurgence of bowlers
Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s bowling was disappointing in the first half of the season with none of the bowlers picking wickets and going for runs. Swapnil Singh made his debut for SRH and took two important scalps of Markram and Klassen that changed the momentum of RCB.
Yash Dayal looked impressive with his bowling as RCB bowling picked wickets and did not allow opponent batters to score runs easily. Siraj also struggled with the new ball in the first half but came back strongly with 13 wickets from 13 matches (13 innings) at an economy of 9.26 runs per over including best figures of 3 for 43.
Yash Dayal is currently the leading wicket for RCB with 15 wickets from 13 matches (13 innings) at an economy of 8.94 runs per over including best figures of 3 for 20 against Delhi Capitals. He held onto his nerves to pick the wicket of MS Dhoni in the last over to help RCB qualify for the playoffs.
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