NEW DELHI: Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Faf Du Plessis on Sunday said that the team's exit from the league stage was primarily due to the middle-order's inability to score runs, the loss of wickets in the middle overs, the team's struggle to finish games effectively, and the absence of strong hitters in the lower order.
Put in to bat, RCB posted a mammoth 197/5, thanks to a classy century from Virat Kohli (101 not out off 61 balls). In reply, defending champions Gujarat Titans, riding on a magnificent unbeaten 104 off 52 balls, chased down the total in 19.1 overs.
"Very disappointed. We played a really strong team tonight, an amazing hundred from Shubman. It was really wet in the second innings. It was wet in the first innings as well, but there was not a lot of grip in the second innings and also we had to change the ball quite a few times during the second innings. Virat played an unbelievable knock to give us a chance and thought that was a good score, but Shubman played incredibly well to take the game away from us," said Du Plessis in a post-match presentation.
"From a batting perspective, the top 4 contributed really well. We missed a few runs from the middle order consistently throughout the season, especially in the back end of the innings, and also in the middle overs perhaps didn't get as many wickets as we would have liked. He (Kohli) played really good cricket throughout the season and as a partnership probably not a single game where we had anything under 40 as an opening combination. We need to improve well on finishing games, especially in the back end. Last year DK (Dinesh Karthik) had a purple patch and was finishing games left, right and centre, but this season it was not to be. And if you see the teams that succeed they have some good hitters at five at six probably six and seven," he added.
Du Plessis also finished a memorable IPL 2023 with the bat.
1/10:IPL 2023: Gujarat Titans eliminate Royal Challengers Bangalore
ANI
2/10:GT beat RCB
<p>Gujarat Titans opener Shubman Gill hit a superb century to outdo Virat Kohli's second successive ton as Royal Challengers Bangalore were eliminated from the IPL on Sunday.</p>PTI
3/10:Shubman Gill
<p>Gill followed his century against Sunrisers Hyderabad with an unbeaten 104 off 52 balls as Gujarat reached 198/4 with five balls to spare for a six-wicket win.</p>PTI
4/10:RCB 197/5
<p>Kohli with 101 not out — his record seventh century in the IPL — anchored RCB to 197/5 but Gill powered Gujarat's run chase by hitting eight sixes and five fours.</p>PTI
5/10:RCB openers
<p>After the start was delayed by nearly an hour because of rain, Kohli and captain Faf du Plessis combined in a 67-run opening stand off 43 balls. </p>PTI
6/10:35-ball 50
<p>But Gujarat spinner Noor Ahmad (2/39) and Rashid Khan (1/24) squeezed the runs in the middle overs as Kohli raised his half-century off 35 balls. </p>PTI
7/10:7 IPL tons
<p>Kohli upped the scoring rate in the death overs with his superb drives on both sides of the wicket and became the first batter in IPL history to score seven centuries. </p>PTI
8/10:Kohli ton
<p>Kohli scooped Mohit Sharma (0/54) to long on in the final over for a single to raise his hundred off 60 balls only to see Gill's brilliance take the win away from his team. </p>PTI
9/10:Match-winner
<p>Gill defied the data favoring teams batting first and winning at Bangalore in the recent past with his superb stroke play. </p>PTI
10/10:Match-winning stand
<p>Gill and Vijay Shankar (53) put on a match-winning stand of 123 runs for the second wicket. </p>PTIIn 14 matches, he scored 730 runs at an average of 56.15 and 153.68. He also scored eight half-centuries this season, with the best of 84.
Shubman bagged the Man of the Match award for his knock.
