Royal Challengers Bangalore is one of the most popular franchise teams in the world. Not just in India but across the world, fans follow RCB and its players. The prime reason that many of the biggest superstars have represented this team in the Indian Premier League. RCB has been part of the IPL since the inaugural season in 2008. Although they haven’t won the tournament till now.
But their record is pretty decent overall. RCB has played three IPL finals in the 2009, 2011, and 2016 seasons, respectively. But they have finished on the wrong side all three times. Aside from three finals, RCB has also played in the playoff stage five times in the league. In fact, they are the only team to qualify for the playoffs in 2020, 2021, and 2022 consecutively. And here we will discuss the RCB’s performances in the IPL playoffs.
| Season | Group Standing | Final Standing |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 3rd out of 8 | Runners-up |
| 2010 | 4th out of 8 | Playoffs |
| 2011 | 1st out of 10 | Runners-up |
| 2015 | 3rd out of 8 | Playoffs |
| 2016 | 2nd out of 8 | Runners-up |
| 2020 | 4th out of 8 | Playoffs |
| 2021 | 3rd out of 8 | Playoffs |
| 2022 | 3rd out of 8 | Playoffs |
1. 2009 Season – Runners-up
RCB finished as the runners-up in the 2009 season. They started poorly with four losses out of the first five games. But they won seven out of the next nine league matches. Thus, they finished third in the group to qualify for the semi-final. Bangalore faced CSK in the semi-final. Batting first, CSK made 146/5 and RCB made 149/4 to win by six wickets and qualify for the finals. But they couldn’t win the final and lost to the Deccan Chargers by six runs to end as runners-up.
2. 2010 season- Playoffs (4th place)
RCB ended the group stage in fourth place to qualify for the playoffs. They won seven and lost seven matches out of 14. They faced the Mumbai Indians in the semi-final and lost the game by 35 runs, finishing the season in fourth place. MI made 184/5, and RCB only managed 149/9 in reply.
3. 2011 Season – Runners-up
Then in 2011, as well, RCB had a pretty good performance in the group stage. They finished at the top with nine wins out of 14 games to advance to the playoffs. Although they lost the first qualifier against CSK by six wickets. Then RCB faced MI in the second qualifier, which they won by 43 runs, and advanced to their second IPL final. But then again, they faced their second IPL final loss at the hands of CSK by 58 runs to end as runners-up.
4. 2015 season- Playoffs (3rd place)
After 2011, it took RCB another four seasons to play in the playoffs. They did it in 2015, when they finished third in the group stage with seven wins, five losses, and two no-results out of 14 games. As the third-ranked team, they played the Eliminator against the Rajasthan Royals and won it by 71 runs to make it to Qualifier 2. But then, CSK beat them by three wickets, and RCB’s 2015 campaign ended in third place.
5. 2016 Season – Runners-up
2016 IPL season was incredible for Royal Challengers Bangalore because it was the season when Virat Kohli broke many batting records and ended up with 973 runs in the season. He led his team to the second spot in the group stage with 8 wins out of 14. They beat the Gujarat Lions (4 wickets) in Qualifier 1 to make the 2016 final. Then, in a tense match, they fell short by 8 runs against Sunrisers Hyderabad to lose their third IPL final.
6. 2020 season- Playoffs (4th place)
RCB made the playoffs of the 2020 season as well, with seven wins out of 14 games. They edged past the Kolkata Knight Riders with the same wins, in terms of better NRR. As the fourth-place team, they played the Eliminator which was against Surisers Hyderabad. Then they lost that match by six wickets and ended the season in fourth place.
7. 2021 season- Playoffs (4th place)
RCB played consecutive IPL playoffs in 2021 when they finished the group stage at third place. They won nine out of 14 games and have the same number of wins that CSK had, but Chennai has a better NRR. Despite playing so well in the group stage, RCB lost the Eliminator against KKR by 4 wickets to finish in fourth place.
8. 2022 season- Playoffs (3rd place)
Then in 2022 season, RCB made to their third consecutive playoffs. They won 8 out of 14 games and qualified in fourth place. Then, they faced the Lucknow Super Giants in the Eliminator and beat them by 14 runs to advance to Qualifier 2. But unfortunately, they lost to the Rajasthan Royals by 7 wickets and ended up in third place.