'We Weren't Special Tonight...': Captain Faf du Plessis Feels RCB Were 20 Runs Short Against RR in IPL Eliminator

Royal Challengers Bengaluru skipper Faf du Plessis is ‘proud’ of his side despite losing to Rajasthan Royals by four wickets in the 2024 Indian Premier League Eliminator at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.

IPL 2024: Rajasthan Royals vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru – HIGHLIGHTS

With the result, RR not only ended their five-match winless streak but also ended RCB’s dream comeback run that lasted six games.

RR have now set up a clash with Sunrisers Hyderabad in Qualifier 2 to be played in Chennai with the winner to face Kolkata Knight Riders in the final on Sunday.

Du Plessis lauded his RCB teammates for their remarkable comeback and winning six games to enter the IPL 2024 playoffs.

“Extremely proud. Lot of teams – their wheels would’ve fallen off after 1 from 9. To come back like that, six games in a row, takes a lot of heart and character,” Du Plessis said after the match.

“We weren’t special tonight in terms of pushing that extra 20 runs with the bat,” he added.

Sent into bat, RCB scored 172/8. In reply, RR chased down the target of 173 with six balls to spare.

Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal struck a 30-ball 45 while Riyan Parag and Shimron Hetmyer chipped in with quick-fire 36 and 26 respectively.

Earlier, Rajat Patidar top-scored for RCB with 34 off 22 balls.

In-form opener Virat Kohli made 33 off 24 balls before falling to wily leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, while Mahipal Lomror scored a brisk 17-ball 32.

Senior India offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin bowled beautifully to finish with excellent figures of 2/19 in four overs while taking the wickets of Cameron Green and Glenn Maxwell off successive balls. Avesh Khan took 3/44 in his four overs.

The RCB skipper said with the dew coming in, they were a few runs short, adding that they needed to push more for a more runs to make it a competitive total.

“With the dew coming, we felt we were short with the bat. Did think we were 20 runs shy of what was a good score,” he said.

“Credit to the boys – they fought really well. That’s all you can ask for. If you look at naturally assessing the pitch and conditions, you would say it’s a 180 pitch because it was swinging upfront and was quite slow. But what we’ve found out this season, with the impact player, the par score isn’t enough any more. Also with the dew coming in,” he added.

(With inputs from Agencies)

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