GT vs RCB: Faf du Plessis credits loss to Gautam Gambhir-mentored KKR for RCB's rise in IPL 2024

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Gujarat Titans (GT) went head-to-head with each other in the 45th match of the Indian Premier League 2024 (IPL 2024). The match between the Faf du Plessis-led side and Shubman Gill-led side was held at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday, April 28.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) entered the match against the Gujarat Titans (GT) on the back of an epic victory over the dangerous Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). RCB had defeated SRH by 35 runs while defending the target on April 25, at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad.

Batting first they had registered a good score of 206/7 as all the batters made brilliant contributions with Rajat Patidar being the top performer as he smashed a half-century off just 19 balls.

While defending the total, the RCB bowlers brought out their best game and didn't let the in-form SRH top-order to score big runs. The Big 4 of the SRH batting unit in Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Heinrich Klaasen, and Aiden Markram were all dismissed inside the powerplay.

After that, it was just a matter of time before RCB registered a win. Swapnil Singh, Karn Sharma, and Cameron Green bagged two wickets each while Will Jacks and Yash Dayal got one wicket as SRH were restricted to 171/8.

I thought it was a really good wicket - Faf du Plessis 

Coming back to the GT vs RCB clash, Royal Challengers Bengaluru won the toss and elected to bowl first in the match. Swapnil Singh removed Wriddhiman Saha in the first to provide his team with a good start. However, Sai Sudharsan and Shahrukh Khan staged a come for GT with their brilliant half-centuries. In the end, the home team posted 200/3 on the board.

Chasing the target, RCB batters Will Jacks, Virat Kohli, and Faf du Plessis made a mockery of the GT bowling unit. Will Jacks smashed a stupendous ton off 41 deliveries and Virat Kohli slammed a 44-ball 70 to steer RCB to a 9-wicket win with 24 balls remaining.

At the post-match presentation ceremony, RCB captain Faf du Plessis said that the surface was really good to bat on. Faf du Plessis also felt that the Royal Challengers Bengaluru have made significant improvement in both batting and bowling departments and revealed that the team is full of confidence. Faf du Plessis said:

"I thought it was a really good wicket. When we bowled first, we felt like it certainly was a score that we could chase, obviously not 16 overs. It feels like we've made some real progress in both departments. We were way off in the beginning of the tournament, but it feels like there's confidence in the group and you can see that in both bowling and batting. The guys are doing a really good job."

Faf du Plessis further defended his bowlers and said that the RCB as a team is doing basics right in the last few matches and credited the loss against KKR for the rise of the team. Faf du Plessis elaborated:

"At the moment and the way the T20 game is ... when you look at the score and you think, "bowlers, what are you doing?" But it's not actually the case. The game has changed so much. Especially that game against Kolkata, for me was probably a line in the sand moment for us as a team where the score was 220 but I felt like that was the first time we bowled to what we wanted to bowl this season. The bowlers took some great confidence from that night and you can see the following performance has been really good. We are doing the basics much better now."