‘It will continue to be E Saala Cup Rehnede’ – Aakash Chopra takes a dig at RCB after another heartbreaking season

Royal Challengers Bangalore had another disappointing end to their IPL 2023 campaign as they failed to reach the playoffs after getting beaten by Gujarat Titans in their last fixture by six wickets. The Faf du Plessis-led side had to win their last game in their home ground at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, however, ended up losing the match despite a brilliant hundred from Virat Kohli.

Commenting on another disappointing outing by the three-time runner-ups, former India cricketer Aakash Chopra said that team will never be able to win by depending on 4-5 big names and will have to invest in Indian players.

“Kohli, Faf, Maxwell, and Siraj did really well. But you can’t win tournaments with just 4-5 players. If you don’t invest in Indian players in the next two seasons, no matter how much you say ‘E Saala Cup Namde’ (this year the trophy is ours), it will continue to be ‘E Saala Cup Rehnede’,” said Chopra on his Youtube Channel.

The former India opener further said that RCB has some toxic fans, but most of their fans are brilliant.

“RCB’s fanbase is one of the best. They do have some toxic fans on Twitter and Instagram, but most of their fans are brilliant. Their fanbase is stellar, and perhaps that’s why they have such a big name and fame despite having not won a trophy,” he added.

RCB failed to qualify for playoffs after four seasons

Coming back to the RCB vs GT game, after being put in to bat first, RCB scored 197/5 in their allotted 20 overs riding on a splendid hundred by Virat Kohli (101* off 61). In reply, GT chased down the target in 19.1 overs courtesy of a sensational hundred by Shubman Gill (104* off 52) and won the match by six wickets.

RCB finished the league stage in the sixth spot having 14 points with seven wins from 14 matches. Notably, it was for the first time since 2019 that they failed to qualify for the playoffs, having finished in the top four for three consecutive seasons from 2020-2022.