"Only passion and celebrations don't win you trophies" - Ambati Rayudu on RCB's IPL 2024 Eliminator loss to RR

Ambati Rayudu has said that the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) can't bag an IPL trophy purely based on passion and celebrations. Faf du Plessis and company's four-wicket defeat to the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the IPL 2024 Eliminator brought their fantastic comeback in the tournament to an end.

RCB were restricted to 172/8 after being asked to bat first in Ahmedabad on Wednesday, May 22. Sanju Samson and company chased the target down with an over to spare to book their berth in Qualifier 2 against the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Chennai on Friday, May 24.

Reviewing the game on Star Sports, Rayudu noted that mere emotions and a win against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) won't help the Royal Challengers Bengaluru lift the trophy.

"If you talk about RCB today, it shows that only passion and 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. Don't think you will win the IPL trophy just by beating CSK. You will have to come next year once again," he said.

The former CSK batter attributed the three-time finalists' 17-year trophyless run in the IPL to their lack of faith in Indian players.

"They need to show more faith in Indians, especially in Indian talent. I don't think in the past 16 years any Indian batter apart from Virat Kohli has scored more than 1000 runs, and Virat is at 8000. That shows that you don't have any confidence in Indian talent," Rayudu elaborated.

Rayudu added that IPL titles are won on the back of Indian players' performances. He pointed out that RCB got the momentum and wins when Indian bowlers like Swapnil Singh and Karn Sharma were included in their playing combination.

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"You need to strengthen your bowling" - Irfan Pathan on RCB's issues

Swapnil Singh played only seven games for RCB in IPL 2024. [P/C: iplt20.com]

Irfan Pathan concurred with Ambati Rayudu that the Royal Challengers Bengaluru didn't show the required faith in Swapnil Singh and Karn Sharma and added that they need to bolster their bowling.

"You gave them (Swapnil and Karn) the confidence late as well. You played them also after a long time. You didn't want to play them at the start. You were reluctant to play them. That is one thing and secondly, you need to strengthen your bowling. You bought Alzarri Joseph so expensive and didn't see that his numbers are so bad," he said.

The former India all-rounder warned the Bengaluru-based franchise against releasing Rajat Patidar before next season's auction.

"You were thinking something else while bringing him to Bengaluru. So your planning was also slightly wrong there. When we talk about showing confidence in Indian players, it's necessary. The next auction is about to come. You shouldn't make the mistake of letting Rajat Patidar go because you have got another Indian batter with difficulty. So persist with him," Pathan elaborated.

Patidar was one of RCB's star performers in IPL 2024. The right-handed batter smashed 395 runs at an excellent strike rate of 177.13 in 13 innings.