Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Faf du Plessis feels they could have minimized the damage by restricting Chennai Super Kings at their home venue of M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru on Monday. CSK posted an above-par score of 226-6 after Faf won the toss and decided to bowl first.
After Ruturaj Gaikwad’s early dismissal, Ajinkya Rahane was able to hit the ground running with some crisp cover drives and pull shots. CSK reached 53-1 at the end of the PowerPlay overs but Rahane was dismissed by a googly from Wanindu Hasaranga after scoring 20-ball 37.
Subsequently, Devon Conway continued his good form and completed his fifth IPL fifty. The left-hander scored 83 runs from 45 balls, smashing six fours and as many sixes. Shivam Dube also used his height and reach to good effect as he scored 27-ball 52.
In fact, RCB bowlers once again could not stem the flow of runs in the death overs as CSK scored 54 runs in the last four overs. Moreover, CSK scored 68 runs between overs 10 to 15.
On the other hand, RCB got close to the target but fell eight runs short. After losing Virat Kohli and Mahipal Lomror early, Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell put on a show for RCB. Faf scored 62 from 33 despite injuring his rib while fielding whereas Maxwell smashed 76 runs from 36 balls. But in the end, their efforts went in vain as RCB could not close out the game.
Faf du Plessis said in the post-match presentation, “Early on in the match, I was diving around and I thought I went at it with my rib, that was the cause of discomfort. I think we played it perfectly, the last five overs were set up for the finish. DK finishing the game, that’s bread and butter for him, but that shows how good their bowling was. 200 was going to be par, we went for few runs towards the end. We could have minimized the damage by restricting them (for less than 20 in an over.)”
He added, “The last four overs was where it was set up for a perfect finish. It was one of those wickets, one of the best (for batters.) As a bowler you need to be skilful, Siraj was unbelievable. We couldn’t manage to finish it off, but we got to move on. I lost a little bit of power towards the end, and was disappointed as I got stiff. Need to keep going harder against the spinners in the middle overs.”
RCB will next take on Punjab Kings on Thursday at the Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali.
