Despite starting the season on a good note and finishing fourth in the points table, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) had to end their campaign in Eliminator on Friday.
After the defeat, RCB skipper Virat Kohli, while being emotional, highlighted the positives that his team could take from the tournament and spoke about the good memories that he will cherish.
"We spoke of creating memories as a team and I think we have done that a lot this season. And when we said this is probably the best environment we had played in for RCB, I damn right about it," said skipper Kohli in a video posted on RCB's Twitter
"It's been an amazing time together, came in just three weeks before the tournament started got to know to spend a lot of time together. Got to know each other very well. And I think the camaraderie is something that has pushed us deep and far into the tournament. Something which we can be proud of," he added.
Kane Williamson smashed his 14th IPL half-century while Jason Holder played a cautious knock as Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) kept their finals hope alive after defeating RCB by six-wicket in the Eliminator here at Sheikh Zayed Stadium yesterday.
RCB failed to rise to the challenge in the Eliminator but skipper Kohli said he was proud of the whole group as the side has always kept its head high even during the losses.
"Even during the defeats, we kept our heads high. We are heading in the right direction and this is something positive we can take from the tournament," said Kohli
"I like to thank the support staff and the coaches especially, you guys have created a brilliant structure this year. The hard work, the planning, and details have been outstanding and we thoroughly benefited from," he added.
Kohli admitted that it was hard for them to have their stay in the bio bubble and said RCB must make sure that they have "one hell of a tournament next year".
"You guys kept on working hard on daily basis. I know it's been tough, staying away from family in a bubble we have not had much to do just each other's company and the attitude has been outstanding," the RCB skipper said.
"As I said we can be really proud of it. Next year things might be different and we have one hell of a tournament next year. So you can be really proud of what we have done after a few seasons that were tough for us," Kohli added.
SRH will now face Delhi Capitals in Qualifier 2 here on Sunday (November 8). The winner of that match will play the summit clash against Mumbai Indians.
( With inputs from ANI )
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