RCB players after loss against Rajasthan Royals© BCCI/Sportzpics

Dinesh Karthik did admit that RCB got a bit lucky after MS Dhoni hit the ball outside the stadium.© BCCI

Yash Dayal in action for RCB during IPL 2024© AFP

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) batter Rinku Singh shared a heartfelt post for Uttar Pradesh teammate and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) pacer Yash Dayal after the latter helped his side qualify for the Indian Premier League (IPL) playoffs. For the unversed, Rinku and Dayal share a history in the IPL with the KKR batter hitting Dayal for five sixes in an over to help his side win the match. Dayal, who was with Gujarat Titans (GT) back then, saw his confidence hit rock bottom after the beating at the hands of Rinku.

He barely featured for GT after that match and was released by GT ahead of IPL 2024. He was then picked by RCB at the auction, and the rest is history.

On Saturday, Dayal defended 17 runs off the last over in RCB’s do-or-die match against Chennai Super Kings (CSK), and also dismissed MS Dhoni to help his side reach the playoffs.

Taking to Instagram, Rinku praised Dayal with a three word captioned. “God’s plan baby Yash Dayal,” he captioned a post on his Instagram story.

Rinku’s post was also shared by KKR on their official social media handles.

“God’s plan. Sahi bole, Rinku bhaiyya. Big UP for the UP boys,” KKR reshared Rinku’s post.

Recalling Rinku’s five sixes, the first three deliveries that he faced in the last over were all full-tosses and the batter made no mistake in dispatching them for sixes.

With 10 runs needed off 2 balls, Dayal bowled a slower length ball, but Rinku hit that too over the fence. The final ball of the match was once again a back-of-the-length slower ball and Rinku with the nerves of steel slammed it over long-on to seal the game for KKR.

However, against CSK, Dayal held his composure despite being struck for a six on the very first ball of the last over.

He dismissed CSK icon Dhoni on the very next ball to switch the momentum back in RCB’s favour. He then conceded just one run off the next five balls, sparking massive celebrations inside the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) have come under the scrutiny of experts and fans after their IPL 2024 match against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Saturday. RCB’s win over CSK, which secured a place in the IPL 2024 playoffs, sparked wild celebration inside the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. The RCB players were criticised for not shaking hands with MS Dhoni, who might’ve played his last game in the IPL with CSK failing to qualify for the playoffs.

The RCB supporters too had to face the wrath on social media for heckling CSK fans outside the stadium during their over-the-top victory celebrations.

In one such viral video, a CSK fan was manhandled by the RCB supporters, who surrounded the man outside the stadium to mock him over Saturday’s result.

pic.twitter.com/n7XKNwOptJ

— Out Of Context Cricket (@GemsOfCricket) May 19, 2024

While RCB’s post-match celebrations can be deemed a bit unnecessary, there is no denying the fact that they deserve to be in the playoffs.

The team was rooted at the foot of the table after losing seven of their first eight matches. However, six successive wins since them have seen them steal a playoffs berth.

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 CSK franchise fail to even make it to the playoffs.

Dhoni, 42, was widely expected to retire after he led the team to a record-equalling fifth title last year, but vowed to come back for one more season after a knee operation.

Dhoni handed over the Chennai captaincy ahead of the season to Ruturaj Gaikwad, who won the toss and elected to field first in the virtual knockout for the final play-off place.

Dhoni stood tall in front of RCB’s playoffs hope, adding 61 runs for the seventh wicket with veteran all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, before Yash Dayal dismissed him to swing the game in RCB’s favour.

(With AFP 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 skipper Faf du Plessis on Saturday dedicated his player-of-the-match award to pacer Yash Dayal, who kept his cool in the final over to seal a 27-run win over Chennai Super Kings in the battle for the final IPL play-off spot. Du Plessis was adjudged the player-of-the-match for his 54 off 39 balls which along with Virat Kohli’s 47 set the foundation as RCB posted a solid 218 for five on Saturday night. CSK needed to score 200 plus to qualify and they came agonisingly close to sealing the berth with Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja going hammers and tongs towards the end.

CSK, in fact, needed 17 off the final over but Dayal held his nerves despite being hit for a towering six by Dhoni in the first ball to seal it in the end for RCB.

“I dedicate the Man of the Match (award) to Yash Dayal! I said to him pace off on this wicket is the best option,” Du Plessis said during the post-match presentation ceremony.

“What a night! Such a great atmosphere. Just a pleasure to finish the season in front of the home fans. There was a lot of rain falling on the pitch, and you don’t want that moisture. It felt like a day-five Test match in Ranchi!” Rain threat was looming on the match and there was a 40-minute rain interruption too but it didn’t matter in the end.

“The contributions from many batters at good strikes, I’m really proud. We were defending 175 (and neither 201 nor 218)! We tried to get the ball changed tonight.

“It’s crazy; even when we weren’t winning, we had the fans here. It was set up perfectly – CSK vs RCB! Incredible.” CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad said missing out on key players made a huge difference as they finished fifth in the standing.

“I think it was a good wicket to be honest, it was spinning and gripping a little bit, but I think 200 on this ground was gettable. We kept losing wickets at regular intervals, it was a matter of one or two hits, sometimes that can happen in a T20 game,” he said.

“Pretty happy with what the target was, to sum up the season, I am pretty happy to have seven wins out of 14 games. Just couldn’t get over the line in the last two balls.

“With the kind of injuries we had, missing out on two frontline bowlers, not having (Devon) Conway at the top of the order as well, I think missing out on three key players made a huge difference.” Talking about the spate of injuries which affected the team, Gaikwad said: “There were many challenges for us right throughout the first game. Injury to Fizz (Mustafiur Rahman), then injruy to (Matheesha) Pathirana as well, he came back and then again Pathirana missed out. When you have injuries around, you have to get that balance in the team and pick it (the team) for every game.

“I think this season sums up well where we had to tinker around with our playing XI, considering the injuries and all the illness (of the players) as well. Happy with the seven wins, couldn’t get over the line though. Happy with it.

“We got 10 from the last 2 balls in our last knockout game last year so this was a similar situation, things didn’t go our way (this season) though,” he added.

Gaikwad has been one of the top run-scorer this season but he said it doesn’t matter as he couldn’t take the team to the play-offs.

“For me, personal milestones don’t really matter a lot, after all the ultimate goal is to win. If you are not getting there it’s a disappointment. Doesn’t matter if you score 100 runs or 500-600 runs in a season. I am disappointed,” he said.