“We found the wicket tricky in the first innings,” Faf du Plessis believes 190 was a good score to defend
Royal Challengers Bengaluru faced their third consecutive defeat, as they were outplayed by Rajasthan Royals on Saturday. After being put into bat first, RCB managed to score 183 runs, with Virat Kohli scoring a brilliant unbeaten knock of 113 runs. However, after recording a first wicket partnership of 125 runs, a total of 200 runs looked well on the cards.
However, the likes of Glenn Maxwell and Cameron Green failed to capitalize in the back end of the innings. This meant that the visitors ended with a modest total of 183 runs. Rajasthan Royals made the chase looked comfortable, as they recorded their fourth consecutive victory. Jos Buttler’s unbeaten century steered the hosts towards victory, as he stitched a 148-run partnership with Sanju Samson.
RCB skipper Faf du Plessis stated that the wicket was tricky to bat on in the first innings. He believes that the wicket got slightly better towards the second innings, as he praised Rajasthan Royals for the decision to field first.
“I think we found the wicket tricky in the first innings. I thought 190 was a good score, think we could have added 10-15 runs max. Their spinners bowled well (in the middle overs), good decision by them to bowl first. With the dew batting got easier. Virat was playing well at the back end, with someone like Green coming in, you want to maximise those last overs. We tried to squeeze as hard as we can, but it was tricky to hit against the spinners. It was easier to hit the seamers. The pitch definitely got better, you could feel it, the ball was skidding along nicely,” said Du Plessis in his post-match speech.
Faf du Plessis not worried about ‘dropped catches’
Royal Challengers Bengaluru were well below average on the field today. There were a couple of dropped chances, and the intensity on the field was just lacking. Faf du Plessis stated that he was not too concerned about the missed chances, however, he wants his players to show more energy on the field.
“Fielding was average, it’s something we have spoken about, we’ll work and try to improve. Not worried about catches, it’s about showing intensity on the field,” said the RCB skipper.
Faf du Plessis also explained his decision to not bowl Glenn Maxwell. The South African stated that their plan was to unleash the Australian all-rounder against Yashasvi Jaiswal. However, the southpaw was dismissed in the first over itself, hence he did not feel the need to throw the ball to Glenn Maxwell.
“Not bowling Maxwell was because all right-handers were batting, so went to the left-handed spinner initially. With two right-handers at the crease, went to the left arm spinner and later got the leg spinner (Himanshu Sharma) into the attack. There was no point of being defensive, we needed wickets,” Du Plessis added.
