How Royal Challengers Bangalore Qualified For IPL 2024 Playoffs?

With six back-to-back victories in the group stage, the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) are looking as one of the major contenders to win the prestigious Indian Premier League (IPL 2024) trophy. The Faf du Plessis-led RCB team registered a superb 27-run victory in a must-win encounter against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Saturday at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru in order to cement their position in the IPL 2024 playoffs. It is definitely one of the greatest and miraculous comebacks in the history of the T20 competition as RCB were surely looking down and out during the opening stages of IPL 2024. In this article, we will take a deeper look at how the Royal Challengers Bangalore managed to qualify for the IPL 2024 playoffs. 

How Royal Challengers Bangalore qualified for IPL 2024 Playoffs?

The Royal Challengers Bengaluru came into the 17th edition of the Indian Premier League with a lot of motivation and confidence as the Royal Challengers Bangalore Women had already achieved history by winning the Women's Premier League (WPL 2024) title. However, things kickstarted on a really poor note for the 2016 finalists as they suffered a disappointing 6-wicket defeat at the hands of Chennai Super Kings in the tournament opener. RCB made an impressive comeback in their next game having defeated Punjab Kings at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. 

Things went completely downtown for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru side after that victory as they went on to suffer as many as six losses on the trot. Former RCB skipper Virat Kohli was surely looking in a very good form with the bat at the top, however, the current captain Faf du Plessis was yet to find his rhythm in the first few matches of the season. The Australian duo of Glenn Maxwell and Cameron Green proved to be the biggest disappointment in the first half of the T20 tournament. They have failed to deliver the goods both in the batting as well as bowling departments. 

RCB's senior wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik mentioned in a recent interview that he was quite sure that the last league match will be his last day in the tournament. Virat Kohli also revealed that he had already packed his bags after losing 7 out of their first 8 matches. Incidentally, RCB highest score in IPL (263/5) was put to rest this year as Sunrisers Hyderabad smashed the biggest total in the IPL history, 287 for 3 against RCB. Majority of the Royal Challengers Bangalore players were really heartbroken especially after a dramatic 1-run defeat suffered at the hands of Kolkata Knight Riders. 

However, with just 1% chance of making it to the knockouts stage after the six consecutive losses, the Royal Challengers Bangalore team decided to play for their fans. The real turnaround started when they first defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by a margin of 25 runs in the reverse fixture. For the RCB, Will Jacks smashed a fabulous 41-ball century against Gujarat Titans picking up a brilliant 9-wicket win. 

During the half-way stage of the Indian Premier League 2024 season, the RCB team management made some changes to their playing combination. They brought in left-arm spinner Swapnil Singh who could also contribute well with the bat lower down the order. New Zealand's premier speedster Lockie Ferguson was drafted into the RCB Playing XI after left-arm pacer Reece Topley and Alzarri Joseph failed to make an impact. 

Rajat Patidar played an important role in changing the momentum during the second half of the T20 competition. He went on to notch up as many as five half-centuries, while smacking the opposition spinners all over the park. RCB captain Faf du Plessis also came back to form after struggling to score runs in the opening stages. The Royal Challengers Bangalore then went on to register a total of five back-to-back victories and suddenly, they sneaked in an opportunity to qualify for the IPL 2024 playoffs. 

However, in order to qualify for the knockouts, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru were required to beat Chennai Super Kings by a margin of 18 runs or more. Virat and du Plessis got their team off to a fine start at the top adding an opening partnership of 78 runs. Faf du Plessis scored an excellent knock of 54 runs off 39 balls, while crucial innings from Patidar, Green and Maxwell helped RCB reach a massive total of 218 for 5 in their quota of 20 overs. 

In the run-chase, Maxwell dented the opposition by removing CSK's in-form skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad off the first delivery. Faf took a couple of amazing catches during the middle-overs. With MS Dhoni on strike, left-arm pacer Yash Dayal held his nerves brilliantly well as the Royal Challengers Bangalore clinched a stunning 27-run win to qualify for the IPL 2024 playoffs. RCB will now be facing the Rajasthan Royals in the Eliminator scheduled on 22 May, 2024 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.