IPL 2024: RCB head coach Andy Flower vows the team will come back stronger

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) head coach Andy Flower said it is knock-out time for the franchise in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and said that his team will come back stronger.

RCB lost six of the seven matches they have played and is staring at an early elimination from the cash-rich league.

Faf du Plessis-men started with a six wicket loss to the Chennai Super Kings but appeared to set things right when they beat the Punjab Kings by four wickets in their second match. However, it has been downhill for the franchise since then, losing to the Kolkata Knight Riders, Lucknow Super Giants, Rajasthan Royals, Mumbai Indians and Sunrisers Hyderabad.

The latest defeat to SRH comes as a huge blow to confidence for the team, with the bowling unit giving away 287 runs in 20 overs. However, RCB can take heart from the fact that they only lost by 25 runs with Du Plessis, Virat Kohli and Dinesh Karthik in striking form.

Head coach Flower said every game from now on is a virtual semi-final for them. “We will have a think and we will come back stronger. It is obviously knockout time, and every game is like a semi-final for us,” he said on RCB Game Day.

Although the target was very steep, Flower took confidence from the fact that the RCB batters tried to make a match out of it. “I am really proud of the way we fought with the bat out there in the middle. We lost the game, but I was really proud of the way we fought. It was a really tough night in the field, of course, as they finished so powerfully that it probably took the wind out of our sails,” he added.

The former Zimbabwe player doffed his hat to Dinesh Karthik, who scored 83 off just 35 balls to draw close to the mammoth target, and opined the veteran could be on the plane to the USA and West Indies for the ICC T20 World Cup. “Dinesh Karthik is really making a push for the World Cup team as well and is only getting better on the field,” he said.

In the second-leg of matches, RCB travel to the Eden Gardens to face the Kolkata Knight Riders on April 21.