Ambati Rayudu takes brutal dig at RCB after their exit from IPL 2024

Former India batsman Ambati Rayudu has taken a sly dig at Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) after their exit from the ongoing Indian Premier League 2024 (IPL 2024).

RCB exited the tournament after losing the Eliminator against Rajasthan Royals on Wednesday (May 22) at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The Faf du Plessis-led side came up with a fighting effort but it was not enough in the end to cross the finishing line. Rajasthan Royals, on the other hand, won the game to end their four-match losing streak. It was also their first win of the month this season.

Asked to bat first, RCB scored 172 for 8 in 20 overs thanks to crucial knocks from the likes of Rajat Patidar (34), Virat Kohli (33) and Mahipal Lomror (32). With the ball, RCB had the Royals reeling at 86 for 3 but Riyan Parag stood firm at one end before Shimron Hetmyer and Rovman Powell came up with quickfire cameos to power their team to a win.

Hours after the game ended, Ambati Rayudu decided to have some laugh at the expense of RCB. The former Chennai Super Kings batsman took to Instagram to fire a timely reminder to RCB about his former team’s success in the IPL. Earlier, RCB had defeated CSK in their last league to knock them out of IPL 2024 and qualify for the playoffs.

Ambati Rayudu posted a video in which the CSK players can be seen making gestures of 5 with their hands. The video was shot after CSK’s win in the final last year. It was CSK’s fifth IPL title and Rayudu was also a part of the winning squad. Posting the video, Rayudu wrote:

“Just a kind reminder from the 5-time champions. Sometimes a gentle reminder is required.”

Rayudu had taken a dig at RCB after the Eliminator as well. Soon after the game ended, the former cricketer stated that RCB should focus more on having the hunger to succeed instead of their penchant for aggressive celebrations.

“If you talk about RCB today, it shows that only passion and aggressive celebrations don’t win you trophies. You need to plan. You didn’t get the IPL trophy just by reaching the playoffs. You have to play with the same hunger,” Rayudu said.

“Don’t think you will win the IPL trophy just by beating CSK. You will have to come next year once again,” he added.

RCB’s dream run in IPL 2024:

While RCB could not win the trophy this year, they have definitely won a lot of hearts with their stunning performance in the second half of IPL 2024. The Bengaluru-based outfit began its campaign in a disastrous fashion and was looking destined to finish the tournament at the bottom of the points table.

Nothing went right for them in the first half of the tournament as they lost seven of their eight games. Not many had given them a chance to finish at a respectable position in the points table at that stage let alone qualifying for the playoffs.

However, Faf du Plessis & Co. defied all the odds and won their next six games in style to storm into the playoffs. They thoroughly outplayed the oppositions in those six games to not win only win the games but won them by handsome margins to improve their net run-rate which eventually made the difference in the end.

In their final league, they needed to defeat defending champions CSK by at least 18 runs after posting a 200-plus total to qualify for the playoffs and they did it in style. After scoring 218 runs, RCB restricted CSK to 191 to win the game by 27 runs.

Here is a summary of RCB’s journey in IPL 2024:

1st match: Lost against Chennai Super Kings by six wickets.
2nd match: Beat Punjab Kings by six wickets.
3rd match: Lost against Kolkata Knight Riders by seven wickets.
4th match: Lost against Lucknow Super Giants by 28 runs.
5th match: Lost against Rajasthan Royals by six wickets.
6th match: Lost against Mumbai Indians by seven wickets.
7th match: Lost against Sunrisers Hyderabad by 25 runs.
8th match: Lost against Kolkata Knight Riders by one run.
9th match: Beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by 35 runs.
10th match: Beat Gujarat Titans by nine wickets.
11th match: Beat Gujarat Titans by four wickets.
12th match: Beat Punjab Kings by 60 runs.
13th match: Beat Delhi Capitals by 47 runs.
14th match: Beat Chennai Super Kings by 27 runs.
Eliminator: Lost against Rajasthan Royals by 4 wickets.

For RCB, Virat Kohli finished the campaign as their highest run-scorer. In fact, Kohli is also the leading run-scorer in IPL 2024 and is likely to bag the Orange Cap this year. While no other batter has managed to touch the 600-run mark so far, he has scored 741 runs with the help of one century and four half-centuries.

Left-arm pacer Yash Dayal and Mohammed Siraj finished the campaign as RCB’s joint highest wicket-takers. Both the fast-bowlers picked up 15 wickets. RCB will now be looking to build on this season and perform well next year to end their long wait for a maiden IPL trophy. The mega auction will give them the opportunity to build a stronger squad.

Meanwhile, Rajasthan Royals will be locking horns against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the second qualifier on Friday (May 24) for a place in the final. Kolkata Knight Riders have already qualified for the final after thrashing SRH by eight wickets in the first qualifier earlier this week.

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