“We have to find for answers within” - Sanjay Bangar on what RCB need to do to win the IPL

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) head coach Sanjay Bangar urged for some soul-searching over the franchise’s inability to win the Indian Premier League (IPL) after his team exited the ongoing edition.

Like every year, this season too Bangalore were among the favorites to win the elusive crown. However, they were knocked out of IPL 2023 following a six-wicket loss to Gujarat Titans (GT) in the last league match at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Sunday, May 21.

In a post-match press conference, Bangar was asked about his thoughts on why RCB have been unable to win the IPL.

With a sheepish smile, he replied:

“If you see the last four seasons and, I don’t know how you want to count this season as… We finished at 14 points, at number five [six] in the points table, narrowly missing out on a playoffs spot. Previous three seasons, [we got] consecutive positions in the playoffs.

“We are doing certain things right to maintain that sort of consistency.” Bangar admitted, “But, we have to find for answers within as to why we can’t take that final couple of steps which are needed, which will help us fulfill our long-cherished dream - not only from a team’s perspective, but the support the team gets from all across the country and more so the crowd in Bangalore.”

RCB have reached the IPL final thrice, but on all three occasions have finished runners-up.

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"We were pretty consistent throughout the season” - Sanjay Bangar

Reflecting on RCB’s performance in IPL 2023, Bangar opined that the team showed good consistency.

He, however, lamented the franchise’s inability to win key moments, which cost them in the end.

The head coach said:

“I thought we were pretty consistent throughout the season. If you take out the second game that we played against KKR, wherein we were outplayed totally, apart from that, we played consistent cricket. We could not finish some key phases of the game. Because of that, we were probably a couple of points short towards the end. All in all, I felt that the team competed.

“Even today [Sunday], on that wicket, with the conditions and the moisture, we got a very competitive score. But, credit to Shubman [Gill]. The way him and Vijay Shankar put that partnership, it took the game away from us.”

Gill (104* off 52) added 123 for the second wicket with Vijay Shankar (53 off 35) as Gujarat chased down a target of 198 in 19.1 overs to crush RCB’s hopes of qualifying for the playoffs.