RCB Captain Blames Impact Player Rule, Dew for IPL Elimination

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain Faf du Plessis expressed disappointment after his team's elimination from IPL 2024 by Rajasthan Royals (RR). He attributed the loss to a combination of the Impact Player rule and the dew during the chase, which he believes left RCB "20 runs short" of a competitive total.

Batting first on a fresh pitch in Ahmedabad, RCB managed to post 172 for 8. However, du Plessis felt that the score was insufficient, especially considering the dew factor that would aid RR's chase. "With the dew coming in the second innings, we thought we were a little bit short with the bat," he said. "We needed a push, a few more runs to make it even more competitive."

Du Plessis acknowledged the challenges of batting first on a sticky surface, but emphasized that the Impact Player rule has raised the par scores in T20 cricket. "If you look at naturally assessing the pitch and the conditions, you would say it's a 180 pitch," he explained. "But with the extra batter and the longer batting line-ups, your par scores are really not what they used to be, especially if there's dew."

RCB's innings took a significant hit when they lost Cameron Green and Glenn Maxwell in quick succession. Maxwell's dismissal, in particular, drew criticism from commentators Varun Aaron and Tom Moody, who labeled it as "reckless" and a "brain fade."

Despite the setback, du Plessis praised his team's resilience in reaching the playoffs after a poor start to the season. "A lot of teams would have probably fallen off after one [win] from nine [eight]," he said. "We have got great characters in that dressing room, all of us really put our hands up with a lot of pride and a lot of fight in us to make sure we give our best and give it absolutely everything we have."

However, du Plessis lamented the missed opportunity to advance further in the tournament. "It's a sad ending when it goes your way like that, you feel like is it possibly written in the stars that you could do something special here but we weren't special tonight in terms of just pushing that extra 20 runs with the bat."

Tags: #IPL2024, #RCB, #RR, #FafduPlessis, #ImpactPlayer