Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) captain Faf du Plessis failed to perform with the bat against Shreyas Iyer-led Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in match 36 of the Indian Premier League 2024 (IPL 2024) on Sunday, 21 April at the Eden Gardens in Calcutta.
Faf du Plessis was heading into the match on the back of three good performances from Royal Challengers Bengaluru. He smashed 44 runs against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Jaipur, 61 runs against Mumbai Indians (MI) in Mumbai and 62 runs against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Bengaluru.
Expectations were sky-high from Faf du Plessis as Royal Challengers Bengaluru chased a huge total against Knight Riders and the RCB captain disappointed with the bat. He managed to score just 7 runs off 7 balls and a four before being dismissed by Varun Chakravarthy.
On the first ball of the fourth over, KKR’s mystery spinner floated a full-length floater and Faf du Plessis attempted to smash the ball for a four by hitting it on the ground. Venkatesh Iyer, who was in the middle, moved quickly to his left and lunged for an absolutely stunning catch.
Watch: Venkatesh Iyer takes stunner to dismiss Faf du Plessis
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Earlier batting first, Kolkata Knight Riders posted 222/6 on the board thanks to brilliant batting performances by Phil Salt, Shreyas Iyer, Rinku and Ramandeep Singh. This was Kolkata Knight Riders’ joint-highest total against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, equaling their 222/3 in the opening match of the IPL in 2008.
For Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Yash Dayal, who was quite expensive, and Cameron Green bagged two wickets each, while Mohammed Siraj and Lockie Ferguson bagged one wicket each in the match.
Speaking during the mid-innings break, Ramandeep Singh, who scored 24 runs off 9 balls, said he just wanted to smash the ball when it came to bat. Ramandeep Singh gave full credit to KKR coach Abhishek Nayar for helping the players prepare for the matches.
“I just wanted to hit the ball, luckily it was my day. The slow bumpers weren’t easy to hit, that’s what we’ll do. 222 is a really good score on this course, the pace with the ball is easy to hit. All credit “Thanks to Abhishek Nayar, he prepares us this way and all our networking sessions look like a match. “We have a legend in the Narine team and we want to see how he shows himself today.”
Meanwhile, Royal Challengers Bengaluru would be keen to win the match against Kolkata Knight Riders in the reverse match after losing against them in the previous match. On 29 March 2024, Kolkata Knight Riders beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru by 7 wickets with 19 balls remaining in Bengaluru.