Royal Challengers Bengaluru batter Dinesh Karthik plays a shot during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 cricket match between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Chennai Super Kings, at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, Saturday, May 18, 2024. (PTI Photo)
The Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s fairytale comeback was cut short by the Rajasthan Royals on Wednesday when the Faf du Plessis-led side were dumped out of the tournament with a 4-wicket defeat in the Eliminator.
RCB who had started the IPL season with 1 win from the first 8 matches were written off from playoffs contention but at the business-end of the tournament, they went on a blistering run, winning 6 matches out of 6 and finished the group stage as the 4th-placed team.
With all the momentum behind them against a RR side who had lost 4 back to back matches, RCB tripped when it mattered the most and lost in the Eliminator.
Unfortunately, sport is not a fairytale and our remarkable run in #IPL2024 came to an end. Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis and Dinesh Karthik express their emotions and thank fans for their unwavering support. ❤️#PlayBold #ನಮ್ಮRCB pic.twitter.com/FYygVD3UiC
— Royal Challengers Bengaluru (@RCBTweets) May 23, 2024
Dinesh Karthik, whose retirement rumours are swirling around all over the internet, put it aptly by saying that in sports, there is no fairytale ending.
“Things turned around, winning six out of six felt like, ‘wow! This is going to be the year!’ But sport, as always, there is no fairytale endings, there is always a hard day, one day that does not go your way… but still should be really proud of the boys. I thought that the batters, bowlers and fielders fought right up to the end. And that is all you can ask for in sport. The attitude matters, the belief in wanting to do something special matters. And on both counts, RCB had a very, very special season,” Karthik said in a video shared by Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
“It is a season where a lot of people will look at and be like ‘wow, that was a good effort.’ We should be very proud of ourselves and I hope all the fans are very proud of us for what we have done this year,” he added.
Virat Kohli who was despondent after the defeat, also chose to look at the positives from the season.
“We started expressing ourselves, started to play for our self-respect and then the confidence came back. The way we turned things around and qualified was truly special, something that I will always, always cherish and remember, because it took a lot of character from each member of this team, something that we can be really proud of. And eventually we played the way we wanted to play,” Kohli said.
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First uploaded on: 23-05-2024 at 17:14 IST
