One of the most lovable teams in the IPL, Royal Challengers Bangalore has qualified for the playoffs 7 times since the inception of the cash-rich league in 2008.
This year too, they are on the verge of reaching the playoffs if they win their last league stage game against the already qualified Gujarat Titans on May 19. And Delhi Capitals will lose their last game on May 21.
We have to wait till May 21 to see if RCB will be able to qualify for the playoffs for the eighth time or not. In the meantime, let’s see how the challengers fared when they reached the playoffs in the past.
In the second season of IPL, RCB qualified for the playoffs and then reached the finals as well under the captaincy of Anil Kumble, but unfortunately they were unable to lift the title and lost the game by 6 runs to Deccan Charges.
Again in 2010, the Anil Kumble-led side made to the playoffs and ended the tournament at third place after defeating Delhi Daredevils by 9 wickets at the 3rd place playoff game.
In 2011, RCB made the hat trick to qualify for the playoffs, this time under Daniel Vettori, but was defeated by MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings in the finals.
After four years in 2015, RCB again pushed their limits and reached the playoffs under the dynamic captain Virat Kohli, and after outlasting Rajasthan Royals in the eliminator game they reached a step closer to the finals but CSK ended their run by defeating them in the qualifier 2.
2016, a reason to remember for so many reasons, in that season, Virat Kohli smashed 973 runs, which is still the highest score recorded by any batter in the history of IPL in one season, apart from that, he recorded 4 hundreds as well, and on top of that, his team reached the finals for the third time after 2009 and 2011, considering all positives everyone was hoping that RCB will definitely clinch the title. However, SRH came up with some other ideas and defeated the Virat Kohli-led side in a high-scoring game.
After booking the berth in the second last match during the league stage in IPL 2020, RCB was defeated by SRH in the eliminator game.
In 2021, an emotional IPL side reached the playoffs in the last season of Virat Kohli as a skipper, wanted to win at any cost but KKR throwed water on their dreams by beating them in the eliminator match.
Only Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings are ahead of RCB in the stats of playing most playoffs in the IPL history.
The four time champions CSK have reached the playoffs 11 times, while the most successful IPL team of all time, Mumbai Indians have qualified 9 times.
