The Up’s and Down’s of every RCB’ian – Fan Article

With the announcement of inaugural season of Indian Premier League (IPL), I was quite excited but had no clue what kind of tournament it will be and how it will go through. I asked my friends but my queries stay put.

A Decade ago, I was not familiar with mobile and internet so that I could not google my queries. With the same level of excitement, I waited for more information from any source or any official announcement. On January 2008, an official announcement came announcing the name of franchise and their respective owner and finally got to know how the player will be accumulated. Soon, the first Auction of this league was held and players were owned by franchises. All the famous and big players were circulated in different teams; Sachin, Dhoni, Dravid including players from other countries as well. Along with me, many of us were confused which team to support, since being a fan of Dravid, I opted for Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Rahul Dravid
Rahul Dravid, Former RCB and India captain.

The Bangalore based franchise got the players like Kallis, Misbah, Taylor, Kumble, Kohli (was just a youngster). The likes of Kallis, Misbah and Dravid were better known for their test and ODI games, and the tournament was based on T20 format. Many Considered RCB won’t be a tough competitor for the opposition which came out true in the first match of IPL against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) when Brendon McCullum thrashed 158* helping KKR post 222 on boards, and hopes came to end when Dravid was bowled by Ishant in very 1st ball of Second over. RCB were bowled out for just 82 suffering huge loss of 140 runs.

Season continued and we kept suffering the defeat, winning just 2 matches out of 14 and both game was against Deccan Chargers, finishing 7th in point table. Next edition began with inclusion of Kevin Petersen and few more players, KP was handed command of RCB. On the very first match, we defeated the defending champion Rajasthan Royal bowling them out for 58 which was lowest IPL Score then. With the win, RCBians including me got some hopes but soon the story of 2008 continued. We kept losing the matches and Anil Kumble was announced as the new captain. The fortune of RCB changed and in most win situations, the luck favored us. We reached the semis where we see off Chennai Super Kings (CSK). We made it to final and bowling Deccan Chargers for just 143, we thought RCB will get this target but we collapsed and ended up losing the final with 6 runs. Losing the final hurts more than breaking up with your girlfriend for Cricket Lovers. Don’t know about others but that was sleepless night for me. The next day I was teased and made fun of by my friends.

Royal Challengers Banglore lost to Deccan Chargers in 2009 IPL Final.

Next Season kicked off with same hope and expectation but the result was same, we got beaten by Mumbai Indians on semifinal. We saw the mega auction in 2011, the team RCB which I supported because of Rahul Dravid was bought by Rajasthan Royasl but I was emotionally attached with this team and I would not have even imagined leaving this team because RCB was not just a word but an emotion for me. With great players like AB De Villiers, Daniel Vettori, Kohli and Gayle in the squad we were unstoppable that season and went on to top the league. With RCB reaching the final, we were hoping fortune favors us but something horrible was waiting for us as we were defeated by CSK in a completely one sided final. The result was disappointment and frustration for us again.

Losing two finals in the span of 3 years was terrible. We couldn’t even qualify for play offs in next 3 seasons. We were so much unlucky that we failed to chase target below 140 in most win game against SRH. We were trolled, made fun, regarded as fan of Chokers but our hope and love towards RCB didn’t dropped off by 1%. Then came 2015, a decent season and heroic knock of Kohli and a slight mistake of Warner in do and die game assisted us to qualify for Play offs. We got thrashed by CSK in the Eliminator. Every time our expectations ended on frustrating note resulting in trolls by our fellows. Neither the 2016 season’s start was good for us. Needing 5 wins in a row to qualify, we saw the other side of Virat Kohli who scored 4 centuries in a single season with decent support from AB De Villiers from the other end. Winning all most-win encounters we entered the play offs and a dazzling innings from AB De under pressure helped us to qualify for Final. The Final was against SRH, the David Warner led side batted first and posted a mammoth total of 208 runs. Chasing 209 we had a dream start from Gayle and captain Kohli, who was approaching 1000 runs in a single season. But once Kohli fell for 54 we choked under pressure resulting defeat on the final for 3rd time. This was too much to handle for our feeling and emotion. Losing final hurts, but losing three final was nothing more than a heart attack for us. Troll for us was nothing new, and that didn’t bother us as well.

2017 was the season which none of RCBian would like to remember ever. It was worse and horrible where we were bowled out for 49 against KKR too. For the first time we finished bottom of the table and that was the season where we got maximum trolls for that 49. Despite of all these failures and trolls, our love, passion and emotion for RCB will remain still and we will support RCB till our last breath. RCB is not just a word it’s an emotion, one word that describe the love and feeling of many fans. It doesn’t matter who plays for RCB, our support will always remain same for RCB. You will troll us for not winning the trophy, for that 49 score, for choking in final, but my dear friend that is not going to change our love, emotion and passion for RCB. With just few days remaining for 11th edition of IPL, We RCBians are hoping a good season, and performance from our team. Whether we lose or win, RCBians will always be there for the team. Win of RCB is our win and Loss of RCB is our loss, so whatever be the result, we will always stand with team RCB. Win lose or tie, RCB till we die..

#Playbold

Fan Article By : Rahul Shriwastav (Creator Admin of Facebook group Cricket Corner)

 

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