RCB Qualification Scenario: The bowling unit of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru got thrashed by the aggressive batting of the Mumbai Indians batting unit in their previous encounter. Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium turned into a sleepless nightmare for RCB captain Faf Du Plessis who witnessed his team lose the game within 16 overs despite putting up a challenging total of 196 runs on the board.
All of the MI batters who came out to bat in the middle ensured that the RCB bowlers were smashed to all parts of the ground. Opener Ishan Kishan laid the foundation with his inning of 69 runs in just 34 deliveries. World’s number one T20i batter Suryakumar Yadav showed glimpses of his old self as his inning of 52 runs in 19 balls ensured that the game went away from the Bengaluru based team.
With the defeat against MI, the Faf Du Plessis led team has dropped to the ninth position in the IPL 2024 overall standings with just a single victory in six games next to their name. This has created a lot of uncertainty regarding Bengaluru’s hopes of qualifying for the Playoffs as they find themselves in a pretty tight spot.
Can Royal Challengers Bengaluru still manage to qualify for the playoffs?
The defeat against five winners Mumbai Indians on Thursday has created a lot of pressure on the Bengaluru based franchise in terms of qualifying for the Playoffs. After the end of six games, RCB would have hoped to win at least three games out of six which would have kept the top four within reach for the IPL 2016 runners up.
The Faf Du Plessis led team will be facing some tough opponents in their next few fixtures of IPL 2024 and these games can make or break the season for RCB. IPL 2016 winners Sunrisers Hyderabad will be visiting Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium on 15th April and the game against SRH will be the seventh match for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru in IPL 2024.
If the Bengaluru based team lose the game against Sunrisers Hyderabad, then they would have to win all seven of their remaining games and hope that other teams drop points. Pat Cummins led Sunrisers Hyderabad are playing some top notch cricket, having won their previous two games on the trot.
Post the conclusion of the SRH game, RCB will then travel to Kolkata to take on the Kolkata Knight Riders. The Royal Challengers Bengaluru are pretty aware regarding the sheer brilliance of KKR with the bat and ball, especially after the thrashing which the Kolkata Knight Riders batting unit gave to RCB in front of their home crowd. The key for the IPL 2011 and 2016 runners up would be to secure dominant victories in these games and keep up with the mid table teams.
The Faf Du Plessis-led team will then travel to Hyderabad for the away fixture against Sunrisers Hyderabad before playing two back-to-back games against IPL 2022 winners Gujarat Titans. Playing the Gujarat Titans twice in IPL 2024 will not be easy at all for RCB, given the rich vein of form GT are in.
The final three games of IPL 2024 for the Bengaluru based franchise will be against 2014 runners up Punjab Kings at Dharamshala’s Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, before traveling back to Bengaluru for the home game against Delhi Capitals. Out of these seven matches, Bengaluru have to secure victories in at least six games out of seven and secure 14 points.
RCB’s final game of this season will be a home fixture against Ruturaj Gaikwad’s Chennai Super Kings. Playing a home or an away match against CSK is not an easy task at all, as the five-time IPL winners have a pretty solid core available at their disposal, which has the potential to thrash any opponent. If the Royal Challengers Bengaluru fail to win seven games out of the remaining eight, then they can just say goodbye to the hopes of qualifying for the IPL 2024 playoffs.
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