Never before an IPL team has faced six consecutive defeats and registered six consecutive wins in the same season. That's how epic the turnaround scripted by Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) has been in the 2024 edition.
On Saturday, when Yash Dayal delivered the final delivery and Ravindra Jadeja missed connecting the slower one, it triggered wild celebrations in the RCB camp. Their 27-run win over Chennai Super Kings (CSK) was sixth in a row and most importantly the one that put them into the playoffs and eliminated the five-time champions.
IPL 2024: Results Points Table
The margin of victory may make it sound like a comfortable win for RCB, but the equation was different. CSK would have reached the playoffs even in the face of a defeat, if they had reached the 201-run mark.
That's where Dayal's heroics in the final over proved crucial. Hit for a huge six by MS Dhoni (25 off 13 balls) off the first ball of the over, Dayal dismissed the CSK icon on his next delivery and then conceded just one run off the next four deliveries.
It sparked wild celebrations, as RCB became the first side ever to reach the IPL playoffs after losing seven of their first eight matches in the season. Before this, RCB's most consecutive wins in a season came in 2011, when they won seven matches in a row and finished as the runners-up. Incidentaly, it was CSK who they lost to in the 2011 final.
The reactions online, after RCB's win, flew thick and fast. Here are some of those:
On Saturday at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, RCB put up a commendable 218 for 5 on the board, thanks to contributions across the batting chart led by skipper Faf du Plessis's 39-ball 54 on a difficult track. The hosts then limited CSK to 191 for 7 for a 27-run win.
It took RCB's points tally to 14, the same as CSK, but the Bengaluru outfit leapfrogged Chennai in the net run-rate column and will finish fourth.
