CSK seamer Tushar Deshpande trolls RCB after their defeat against RR in IPL 2024 Eliminator

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) seamer Tushar Deshpande took a swipe at Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) after the Faf du Plessis-led side were knocked out of the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL) on Wednesday.

RCB’s inspirational journey into the IPL playoffs following a spectacular turnaround in the second half of the league stage was brought to a screeching halt with a four-wicket loss at the hands of the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the Eliminator in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.

Also Read | RCB were ‘20 runs shy’ of a good total in Eliminator, admits Faf du Plessis

RR thus progressed to Qualifier 2, where they face Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at Chennai’s MA Chidambaram Stadium on Friday, with the winner then meeting Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the final at the same venue on Sunday.

While the Royal Challengers received virtual pats on their back from several netizens, a vast majority of whom were RCB fans, they also had to cop a fair bit of flak from supporters of rival franchises with CSK’s die-hard supporters among those making it a point to unleash a barrage of memes targeting the three-time runners-up.

Deshpande, who finished the season with 17 wickets at an average and economy of 24.94 and 8.83 respectively, shared a post by Instagram account ‘cskfansofficial’ which had an image of the Bengaluru Cant. Railway Station with the caption, “Nothing just a railway station in Bengaluru!”. The Maharashtra seamer further wrote, “CSK fans are built different” while tagging the account.

Tushar Deshpande's Instagram story. pic.twitter.com/bXSed8pf7Y

— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) May 22, 2024

Deshpande, however, would quickly deleted the story following a backlash on social media, with several netizens slamming a recognised cricketer for engaging in troll-like behaviour.

Tushar Deshpande’s Instagram Story.

You Don’t Expect This Post From A Cricketer.

They Beat You To Reach Playoffs.

Morale Of The Story 🙏🏻 pic.twitter.com/6wGZqwhGKA

— Vaibhav Bhola 🇮🇳 (@VibhuBhola) May 22, 2024

RCB, after all, were responsible for CSK failing to reach the playoffs for only the third time in the history of the tournament after handing them a 27-run defeat in an emotionally-charged encounter between the the two fierce rivals at Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday. CSK needed to avoid a defeat by 18 or more runs to keep their title defence alive, only to miss out on a top-four finish by a whisker.

The highly-anticipated clash at Chinnaswamy witnessed plenty of drama, from a dramatic final over by Yash Dayal in which he halted the legendary MS Dhoni on his tracks to a pumped up Virat Kohli displaying a wide range of emotions — from screaming a barrage of expletives towards fans, who presumably were CSK supporters to getting emotional following Bengaluru’s victory.

Controversial scenes followed the nail-biting contest, with MS Dhoni walking back to the dressing room without shaking the hands of RCB players after being made to wait too long for their celebrations to die down at the centre. There also were isolated incidents of CSK supporters being hounded by RCB fans outside the Chinnaswamy.