Eight matches. One win. Seven losses. Most teams, if any, haven’t seen such a dismal start to the campaign as the Royal Challengers Bengaluru did. As they resided at the bottom of the barrel that is the IPL league stage table, they, unfortunately, looked cemented to that 10th spot. Barring Kohli, the team looked disturbingly out of shape, with constant changes in the foreign four trying to find, in vain, the perfect combination, and their bowlers going for plenty. As they were staring at crashing out of the league, with close to a 0.1% chance of qualifying, there was a paradigm shift.
The turn-around
That’s when RCB decided to make prime Australia, crafting a turnaround that seemed impossible with the team looking like how it did for the first 8 games. Their qualification wasn’t in their hands anymore, which made the rest of their campaign’s goal clear to them. Win. For their pride. And most importantly, for their fans, who have had to run from their television screens when RCB played as if it were a horror film. But all that was to change. After they won against SRH, it didn’t seem like hope was afloat for their team. Their dejected fans saw it as retribution, a sense of false hope that they weren’t going to accept.
Not just luck
But then they won against GT. And they won against them again. Still, it felt like a dream too far-fetched. But then they won their next 2 games, and suddenly the belief was high among players and fans. Please leave it to RCB to defy expectations again and again! Their players suddenly started to click- Rajat Patidar turned his form around, the ‘spin destroyer’ scoring quick-fire 50s like he was born to do it, making for a formidable ally for king Kohli, who picked up on his strike rate, but was always the one dependable player RCB had throughout, and it’s no surprise he’s leading the charts in the orange cap list. Their bowling unit seemed to have found their mojo, consistently stringing on good performances that fans had to rub their eyes to believe.
Now, a pivotal match against CSK is to decide their fate. Whatever the case, they should feel proud of how they’ve picked themselves up, winning five games on the trot. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a beaten-down RCB come back to life, but if they make it, it would be their strongest comeback and a reward for their resilience. And if they were to lift that elusive trophy, it would be the most RCB-esque way to do it.
