'Sorry for not going all the way' - AB de Villiers apologises to fans after RCB's loss against SRH in IPL 2020

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) suffered a painful defeat against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by 6 wickets in the Eliminator on the ongoing 2020 edition of the IPL on November 6, Friday at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi. The defeat in this do-or-die game has put an end to RCB’s campaign in IPL 2020 and their 13-year long wait of claiming the coveted T20 Trophy continues.

Post the disappointing loss, the official Twitter handle of the Bangalore outfit shared the talks of the dressing room for the last time. In the video, the senior players including AB de Villiers, skipper Virat Kohli and Australian captain Aaron Finch could be seen giving an emotional speech on disappointing the fans and the viewers.

The wicketkeeper-batsman AB de Villiers was the only batsman from the Bangalore side who held his fort and continued scoring runs on the pitch in the match against SRH where other batsmen failed to find the rhythm. AB’s 56 runs off 43 deliveries had helped RCB post a total of 131/7 in their 20 overs.

Delivering a passionate speech, the former South African captain apologised to all the fans for not lifting the trophy this year too. De Villiers also thanked them for supporting the team from home and is hopeful that they will make a stronger comeback in the next season.

“To all our RCB fans, thank you so much for the support. Wish you guys were here throughout the tournament, we could’ve done with a bit of support from you guys in the stadium but it wasn’t meant to be. Hopefully next time. Sorry about not going all the way. We gave it our best shot and we had a lot of fun.

“There’s a lot of positives which we will take on board moving forward. Thank you for supporting us and always being behind us,” de Villiers said in the video uploaded on RCB’s Twitter handle.

This is the best group I have been part of, says Aaron Finch

The opening batsman Aaron Finch who had joined the Bangalore side this year only stated that it was an amazing experience to join the team and hailed RCB as the best group ever. “By far the best group I have ever been a part of in the IPL. Being so close together, being in the bubble forced us all to be really close and really tight, it was an amazing experience,” said Australia’s limited-overs skipper.

A memorable campaign came to a disappointing end, but the RCB players savour the final moments together in the dressing room before they fly out of Dubai.

PS: After about 80 consecutive days, this is our final 9 AM video for the #IPL#PlayBold #Dream11IPL #WeAreChallengers pic.twitter.com/BfZ5FrHWPH

— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) November 7, 2020