'Ithna sach nai bolna hai' - Fans react to Faf du Plessis saying 'we don't deserve to be in the playoffs' after defeat to GT

Faf du Plessis (Source: Twitter)

It was the end of the road for Faf du Plessis' Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 as they lost to Gujarat Titans (GT) by eight wickets at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday, May 21. The 2016 runners-up have had a shaky run this season and while reviewing their performance after their last league match, the RCB skipper highlighted that they failed to perform as a unit and did not deserve to make the playoffs.

As du Plessis pointed out in their dressing room speech, RCB were coming into the must-win game against GT with momentum from the previous two games, but the hosts failed to deliver their best. The toss was in favour of GT but the two RCB openers came out all guns blazing and ensured a strong powerplay. However, after the wicket of du Plessis in the 8th over, unsurprisingly, they faced a batting collapse, and the responsibility fell solely on Kohli's shoulders.

The former RCB captain played another stunning knock, taking the team total to a respectable 197 while notching up his seventh IPL century in the process. But in Chinnaswamy, that target was not enough for the bowlers to defend and the GT batters, especially Subhman Gill, who scored a back-to-back century, registered a convincing victory with five balls to spare.

"It is difficult as we had high hopes for the last game. We knew that we were playing a strong team tonight. After the momentum of the last two games, we were really looking forward to running into the playoffs with some good form behind us. Coming into a game against a top side like GT, you have to be on top of your own game," Du Plessis said in a video shared by RCB on their Twitter account.

We weren't one of the best teams in the competition: Du Plessis

The Proteas batter praised Gill's match-winning knock, as well as Kohli and Mohammed Siraj's outstanding performances throughout their campaign. However, he pointed out that despite the individual performances, they did not excel as a team.

"We weren't far off. Shubman Gill played an unbelievable knock to get a hundred. It is disappointing that our season ended here, but we had some real positives in the form of Maxi this year. Virat was incredible. The partnerships between me and Virat were incredible and that consistency was remarkable," he said

"Siraj had a great campaign. There were also areas where we were consistently not great. If we look at ourselves, we will be honest in saying that we weren't one of the best teams in the competition. We were lucky that there were some really good performances throughout, but as a whole, we don't deserve to be in the playoffs. We tried hard tonight but fell short," the 38-year-old added.