Faf du Plessis-led Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) received a 7-wicket defeat at the hands of Shreyas Iyer-led Kolkata Knight Riders (kkr) in the tenth game of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Friday, March 29.
While batting first, RCB posted a good total of 182/6 on the board, thanks to the heroics of stalwart batsman Virat Kohli. Today’s great batsman scored 83 runs off 59 balls and emerged as the best player in his team. His innings were filled with 4 fours and 4 sixes.
However, Virat Kohli’s performance went in vain as Royal Challengers Bengaluru became the first team to lose a home match in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. Sunil Narine and Venkatesh Iyer batted exceptionally well in the second innings and his innings propelled KKR to a huge 7-wicket win.
At the post-match presentation ceremony, RCB captain Faf du Plessis said the pitch had two paces, and even a batsman like Virat Kohli struggled on the surface despite spending a lot of time in the middle. Faf du Plessis elaborated:
“Strange, in the first innings we thought the wicket had two paces, you could see that when the boys bowled the cutters, behind a length, the boys really struggled. “We thought it was a decent score knowing it gets a little easier at night, a little bit of dew came in.”
“Looking at the way we batted in the first innings, even if you have someone there, Virat was struggling to hit the ball just because there was a lack of pace and two paces.”
They played strong cricket shots and practically took the game away: Faf du Plessis amazed by Sunil Narine and Phil Salt
Furthermore, Faf du Plessis said that KKR openers Sunil Narine and Phil Salt batted exceptionally and put tremendous pressure on their bowlers. Faf du Plessis said:
“(Could there be something different about the power play with the ball?) You can always tell after the game, we can say maybe you try one or two things, but the way the two (Narine and Slat) were hitting the ball , some Very good batting there, they put pressure on our players. They played strong cricket shots and pretty much took the game away.”
Faf du Plessis also admitted that they tried a lot of different things in the match, but it didn’t work for them. He said:
“With Narine there, you can’t really spin, you just want to use rhythm from the start. It’s also a very good matchup for Salt and the way he plays. They were excellent, they really broke the game in the first six overs. We have tried the spin options with Maxi, the fingers seem to be effective here, but at night there was not much effect. With the left and right hand combination, it’s one of those things you can bowl. a roulette wheel.”
Faf du Plessis further opined that RCB needed a bowler who could spin both ways, but they did not have such an option available in the team. He stated:
“But as you saw when Venky was playing against the left-arm spinner, you feel it is an easy shot on a small boundary to hit with spin. Ideally you want someone who can spin the ball both ways, but with the setup of our team tonight, we didn’t have that option.”
Faf du Plessis signed off praising pacer Vijaykumar Vyshak, who bowled sensationally and gave away just 23 runs in his quota of 4 overs and picked up one wicket. He elaborated:
“(About Vyshak) Very good, he has not had opportunities. We took a look in the first innings and thought of bringing in Karn Sharma. But we felt like someone who could bowl really good, slower balls is probably the toughest player to play against in this field. Dre Russ probably threw 80% of his cutter balls. We learned something from that and he was the best bowler in the night.”