Following his side’s playoff qualification in the Indian Premier League (IPL) after beating Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) batter Rajat Patidar lauded star batter Virat Kohli for bringing energy on the field that helped everyone step up their game and in maintaining a great atmosphere in the team. Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) completed their fairytale comeback in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) season, securing the playoff spot with a 27-run win over Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at Bengaluru on Saturday.

Following his side’s win, Patidar said, “Virat Kohli bhaiya’s energy infectious on the field. Whether we are behind or ahead in the match, his energy always lifts the whole team. His energy on the field, gives us the motivation and confidence to play better.”

RCB’s road to playoffs was not easy. They had lost seven of their first eight games. Sitting at the bottom of the points table, they were written off from the playoffs race. But sheer belief and fearless gameplay in remaining games helped them secure six successive wins. Also other team’s results went in their way and made their journey to top four easy.

On RCB’s belief that they could overcome a poor start to the season, Patidar said, “We believed that we could change the points table. It has happened before and RCB have done it in the past. We had examples and experienced players around us, so it was a great environment. Everyone believed we could change this.”

On his performance and the support from the senior RCB players, Patidar said – “My role was clear and all I wanted to do was execute it correctly. Our team has many experienced players, such as DK (Dinesh Karthik), Virat, Faf (Du Plessis), and (Cameron) Green. The things I have gotten a chance to learn from them have helped me a lot.”

In 14 matches and 12 innings this season, Patidar has scored 361 runs at an average of 30.08 and a strike rate of 179.60, with five half-centuries. His best score is 55. His run of form in the second half of the season, quickfire half-centuries and assault on spin-bowling proved to be instrumental in RCB’s qualification on the basis of net-run-rate.

Coming to the match, CSK won the toss and opted to bat first. RCB put on a fine score of 218/5 on the board, with skipper Faf Du Plessis (54 in 39 balls, with three fours and three sixes), Virat Kohli (47 in 29 balls, with three fours and four sixes) put on a 78-run partnership, setting a fine platform for Rajat Patidar (41 in 23 balls, with two fours and four sixes) and Cameron Green (38* in 17 balls, with three fours and three sixes) to put on a 71-run stand for the third wicket.

Cameos from Dinesh Karthik (14 in six balls, with a four and six) and Glenn Maxwell (16 in five balls, with two fours and a six) took RCB to a 200-run plus total.

RCB needed to restrict CSK below 201 runs to qualify for the playoffs and surpass their net-run-rate.

In the run-chase of 219 runs and task of scoring 201 runs atleast to book the top four spot, CSK lost two wickets early and were reduced to 19/2. Rachin Ravindra (61 in 37 balls, with five fours and three sixes) and Ajinkya Rahane (33 in 22 balls, with three fours and a six) put up a 66-run stand to bring the side into the game.

RCB sunk CSK to 129/6, but a partnership between Ravindra Jadeja (42* in 22 balls, with three fours and three sixes) and MS Dhoni (25* in 13 balls, with three fours and a six) threatened to take the match away from RCB. However, Yash Dayal defended 11 runs in the final over, restricting CSK to just 191/7 in 20 overs.

RCB is in fourth place with seven wins and seven losses, with 14 points. CSK is in the fifth spot with seven wins and seven losses, but they have slid down to fifth due to a lower net-run rate.

Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Pat Cummins appeared in a relaxed mood a day after his side booked their spot in the IPL 2024 playoffs on Thursday. SRH became the third team along with Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals to book their spot in the Top 4 after their match against Gujarat Titans was abandoned due to rain. In a video that has already gone viral on social media, Cummins was seen enjoying a game of cricket with school kids. Cummins has emerged as a favourite among SRH fans after guiding them to the playoffs thanks to explosive batting performances from top-order stars.

Pat Cummins-led Sunrisers Hyderabad have become the third team after Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals to secure a spot in the IPL 2024 playoffs after rain washed out their clash against Gujarat Titans at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Thursday.

VIDEO OF THE DAY…!!!

Pat Cummins playing cricket with Hyderabad government school kids. pic.twitter.com/rc23am3QvD

— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) May 17, 2024

Due to the match being called off without a ball being bowled, both SRH and GT now share a point each. With SRH’s tally now at 15 points, it means they have now qualified for the playoffs. They now need to beat Punjab Kings on Sunday and hope for Rajasthan Royals to lose to Kolkata Knight Riders to have a shot at top two finish.

SRH getting into playoffs means Delhi Capitals and Lucknow Super Giants will get knocked out of race to playoffs. It also means the last playoffs spot will be decided by the all-important clash between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Chennai Super Kings at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Saturday.

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Aiden Markram, Abdul Samad, Nitish Reddy, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins (c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, T Natarajan, Mayank Markande, Umran Malik, Anmolpreet Singh, Glenn Phillips (wk), Rahul Tripathi, Washington Sundar, Upendra Yadav (wk), Jhathavedh Subramanyan, Sanvir Singh, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Marco Jansen, Akash Maharaj Singh, Mayank Agarwal.

(With PTI inputs)

Former India batter Aakash Chopra believes that Chennai Super Kings (CSK) might have secured a place in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 playoffs if MS Dhoni hadn’t got out. After being hit for a six on the first ball of the final over, Yash Dayal outfoxed Dhoni on the very next delivery with a slower one. Dhoni went for a maximum but the lack of pace on the ball saw him find Swapnil Singh at deep backward square leg. Dhoni joined Jadeja when CSK required 72 runs off 30 balls and the duo managed to add 61 runs in 25 balls.

And after Dhoni hit Dayal for a six off the very first ball, it seemed that CSK might pull off another great escape, despite the game already out of their hands.

But, Dhoni’s dismissal turned the tide of the match as Dayal only conceded one run from the next five balls.

“MS Dhoni was there along with Ravindra Jadeja. Dhoni kept them alive. Maybe this was the last time we saw Dhoni. He hit the longest six of this season – 110 meters. He also hit two fours on the leg side. If MS Dhoni hadn’t gotten out to the back-of-the-hand ball, he would have won the game (taken CSK to the playoffs),” Chopra said in a video uploaded on his YouTube channel.

Chopra also hailed Dayal for making a strong comeback in the final over, which secured RCB a place in the playoffs.

“From where he started, it didn’t seem like winning the game was possible. Not winning, you know I am talking about 201, winning the match was beyond them. Jadeja was hitting sixes off the first ball of every over. However, Yash Dayal bowled well in the last over. Only 17 runs were required. He saved them and RCB won with a decent margin and progressed,” he added.

While it was ecstasy for RCB, the legion of fans of Dhoni sank into despair as it could potentially be the last time they witnessed their ‘Thala’ perform on a cricket field.

Down and out after losing seven out of their first eight games, RCB had weaved five wins on the trot to script a remarkable turnaround and give themselves a chance to make it to the final four.

On Saturday, the hosts needed to win by at least 18 runs to book the final play-off berth and they did that in style with yet another impressive show at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

(With PTI Inputs)

Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s remarkable turnaround to win six games on the trot and barge into the Indian Premier League playoffs this year will inspire other teams in future, believes wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik. RCB, who lost seven of their first eight games including six defeats in a row, came back roaring from the brink of elimination in the 17th edition of IPL to make the final four. The Faf du Plessis-led side on Friday got the better of defending champions Chennai Super Kings by 27 runs to seal the fourth spot in the points table.

“People will always remember certain journeys. The way we have come back after eight games, we needed to win six, people will remember this team,” Karthik was quoted as saying in a RCB release.

“Every year in this tournament, when you hit the seven-game mark, there will be one or two teams which would have probably won one or two and they will look to us and say, ‘RCB did it. That was special. We are going to try and repeat what RCB did’.” “That is what we all play cricket for, sport for, where people follow us and believe us that they can do something special. It is hard. It is not going to be easy, I can tell any team that. What we have achieved today is very, very special,” Karthik said.

RCB will now face the team which finishes third, one among Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals, in the Eliminator to be played at Ahmedabad on Wednesday.

“We have it within our grasp to do something that people will remember us for many decades. It will be a journey where people will say, ‘wow, that RCB team was special’. We are on that journey,” Karthik said.

Karthik said RCB’s confidence was the differentiating factor between them and CSK, a team which has a better bilateral record.

“Coming into this game, there was a sense of quiet confidence about us, playing the defending champions, and the way we played we should be really proud,” Karthik said.

The senior wicketkeeper pointed out RCB’s fielding and aggressive batting, despite rain intervention, as the factors which worked for them.

“We can proudly say we are the best fielding team in this tournament without a doubt,” he said.

“Even though it turned, we had a rain break, we had to go, start again, just the way Virat (Kohli) and Faf played the next three overs made it feel like 140-150 could be a decent total.

“Most teams would have thought about that and we would have thought about that for a second as well,” he said. 

Was the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 clash against Royal Challengers Bengaluru MS Dhoni‘s last? The cricket fraternity is certainly hoping that isn’t the case. The game was for Dhoni to finish, especially after he hit a six on the first ball of the final over of the match. But, RCB’s Yash Dayal struck on the second delivery to get rid of the former CSK captain and pull the match in his team’s favour. However, a demoralizing video has emerged on social media, showcasing post-match scenes where Dhoni skipped shaking hands with RCB players and returned to the dressing room.

Dhoni, who hasn’t been fully fit the entire season, was in front of the queue of CSK players as they waited for RCB players to finish their celebration and shake hands with them. However, after waiting for a little while, Dhoni decided to return to the dressing room.

On his way back, the Thala did shake hands with the members of RCB’s support staff and a few bench players. Here’s the video:

Dhoni should learn how to handle loss with grace from Kohli. Handshake is one of the great things about our game. If it was Kohli, many would have called him egoistic.

– @MichaelVaughan @msdhoni We are not expected THIS from you#RCBvsCSK #Bengaluru #MSD pic.twitter.com/MKL1FOLlGS

— ABHI (@Abhi_kiccha07) May 19, 2024

It isn’t yet known if a handshake between Dhoni and RCB’s playing XI took place later, but in that moment, the veteran wicket-keeper batter preferred returning to the dressing room rather than waiting for the opponent team’s players.

In another video, it can be seen that Virat Kohli went after Dhoni to the dressing room, probably to shake hands with him after missing out on the same during their time on the field.

Dhoni didn’t come on ground for handshake

Then kohli goes in the csk camp to meet him pic.twitter.com/FkEfHhJzrD

— Vir8 (@wronggfooted) May 19, 2024

The Qualifier 2 and the final of this year’s IPL are scheduled to be held at Chepauk, CSK’s home ground. Since this announcement was made, fans have been hoping to see Dhoni and his team lifting the trophy in front of their home fans on May 26. However, the topsy-turvy season saw the Chennai franchise fail to even make it to the playoffs.

Harbhajan Singh recently questioned the scheduling of the ongoing season of the IPL.© YouTube

MS Dhoni might decide to retire after IPL 2024© BCCI/Sportzpics

The Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) knocked out Chennai Super Kings (CSK) from the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, securing a 27-run victory in their final game of the league campaign on Saturday. The result put RCB in the playoffs while CSK were forced to return home after missing out on a spot in the top 4 on the basis of Net Run Rate. While RCB fans were elated to see their team go through to the next round, a sense of sorrow crept inside millions of cricket fans, fearing they’ve seen the last of MS Dhoni as a player in the T20 league.

As RCB closed in on the win, Dhoni’s dejected look on the CSK bench left a feeling of sorrow in the hearts of the fans, with talks of Dhoni’s Dhoni’s potential retirement gaining momentum on social media. Amid this chatter, “Definitely Not” started to trend on X (formerly Twitter), with former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan leading the talk.

Definitely not?

— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) May 18, 2024

Waiting to hear “definitely not”  pic.twitter.com/gYFaRFsegg

— Shivani (@shivani_yaar) May 18, 2024

DEFINITELY NOT

This man deserves all kind of respect and love#Dhoni #CSK pic.twitter.com/PkOIq9TTKi

— Bruce Wayne (@_Bruce__007) May 18, 2024

#Dhoni

MS Dhoni it’s a request just say one more time ” Definitely Not ” pic.twitter.com/bjK7wTu2Q3

— theboysthing_ (@Theboysthing) May 18, 2024

Definitely Not once again #MSDians #Thala #MSDhoni pic.twitter.com/hCrZ8x5UVM

— Ram (@ramdevkar07) May 18, 2024

Dhoni hasn’t yet clarified his stance on future, deciding to remain mum on the big decision. After CSK won the IPL 2023 title, the former India wicket-keeper batter had said that he plans to continue for at least one more year for his fans.

“Looking for an answer? Circumstantially if you see, this is the best time to announce my retirement. But the amount of love and affection I have been shown wherever I have been this year, the easy thing would be for me to say “Thank you very much”, but the tough thing for me is to work hard for another 9 months and come back and play at least 1 more season of IPL. A lot depends on the body, I have 6-7 months to decide. It will be more like a gift from my side, it’s not easy for me but that’s a gift. The way they’ve shown their love and affection, I think that’s something I need to do for them,” Dhoni had said after CSK won IPL 2023 final last year.

Ahead of the match between RCB and CSK, Faf du Plessis had quashed talks around Dhoni’s retirement, saying such things have bee speculated over the last 6 years.

“People have been talking about MS Dhoni retiring for six years, so it doesn’t really change. The conversation is about what we do in our team,” Du Plessis said.

RCB fans on the streets of Bengaluru© X (Twitter)

After his side’s 27-run defeat against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad said they couldn’t get over the line in the game at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. Gaikwad displayed a sloppy performance against RCB on Saturday. He was dismissed for a golden duck on the first ball of the second inning by Glenn Maxwell. Speaking after the match, Gaikwad said the wicket in Bengaluru was good, and it was turning and gripping for the spinners.

He added that the team faced a lot of challenges in the first game. He further added that CSK missed Matheesha Pathirana and Mustafizur Rahman’s presence in the squad.

The CSK skipper said he is slightly disappointed after his side failed to make their place in the IPL 2024 play-offs.

“It was a good wicket. For spinners, it was turning and gripping a little bit. I was pretty happy with what the target was. To sum up the season, I’m pretty happy with seven games out of 14. Injuries, not having Conway as well–made a lot of difference. Challenges right from the first game. Pathirana got injured, and we missed Fizz as well. When you have injuries, it is difficult to balance the squad. I couldn’t get over the line, but these things can happen. For me, personal milestones don’t matter a lot. After all, the ultimate prize is to win. We couldn’t get it, so personally, I’m slightly disappointed as well,” Gaikwad was quoted by ESPNCricinfo as saying.

Coming to the match, CSK won the toss and opted to bat first. RCB put on a fine score of 218/5 on the board, with skipper Faf Du Plessis (54 in 39 balls, with three fours and three sixes), Virat Kohli (47 in 29 balls, with three fours and four sixes) putting on a 78-run partnership, setting a fine platform for Rajat Patidar (41 in 23 balls, with two fours and four sixes) and Cameron Green (38* in 17 balls, with three fours and three sixes) to put on a 71-run stand for the third wicket.

Cameos from Dinesh Karthik (14 in six balls, with a four and six) and Glenn Maxwell (16 in five balls, with two fours and a six) took RCB to a 200-run plus total.

RCB needed to restrict CSK below 201 runs to qualify for the playoffs and surpass their net-run-rate.

In the run chase of 219 runs and the task of scoring 201 runs at least to book the top four spot, CSK lost two wickets early and were reduced to 19/2. Rachin Ravindra (61 in 37 balls, with five fours and three sixes) and Ajinkya Rahane (33 in 22 balls, with three fours and a six) put up a 66-run stand to bring the side into the game.

RCB sunk CSK to 129/6, but a partnership between Ravindra Jadeja (42* in 22 balls, with three fours and three sixes) and MS Dhoni (25* in 13 balls, with three fours and a six) threatened to take the match away from RCB. However, Yash Dayal defended 11 runs in the final over, restricting CSK to just 191/7 in 20 overs.

RCB is in fourth place with seven wins and seven losses, with 14 points. CSK is in the fifth spot with seven wins and seven losses, but they have slid down to fifth due to a lower net-run rate.