SRH vs RCB: Was Contemplating Getting Retired Out To Get Dinesh Karthik In - Faf Du Plessis

Faf du Plessis was a happy man as Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by 67 runs at the Wankhede Stadium in the 54^th match of the IPL 2022. In their previous encounter, RCB were bowled out for 68 runs and had lost by 8 wickets.

This time, Du Plessis won the toss and chose to bat first in the day match of the double-header. RCB had come into the match with the same XI, while SRH made one change as Afghanistani left-handed pacer Fazalhaq Farooqui was handed a debut.

Virat Kohli’s poor run of form continued as he was dismissed off the first ball itself by J Suchith. But then skipper Faf du Plessis (73*) and Rajat Patidar (48) added 105 runs in 12.1 overs.

After Patidar’s wicket, Glenn Maxwell made 33 in 24 balls, and RCB looked set for a score of around 170 runs. But Dinesh Karthik sprang into action as he smashed 4 sixes and 1 four in the 8 balls he faced and remained unbeaten on 30 as RCB finished on 192/3 in 20 overs.

Sunrisers Hyderabad were never in the chase as they lost Kane Williamson, their skipper to a runout on the first ball of their chase, and then Abhishek Sharma also got out for a single-digit score.

Their innings was salvaged somewhat as Rahul Tripathi made 58 in 37 balls, Aiden Markram made 21 and Nicholas Pooran made 19, but the remainder of the batting crumbled as Wanindu Hasaranga picked 5/18 in 4 overs and Josh Hazlewood took 2/17 in his four overs.

Wanindu Hasaranga Is Obviously One Of Those Special Bowlers: Faf Du Plessis

Captain Faf du Plessis was smiling big as he not only top-scored with 73* for his RCB team but also avenged the humiliating defeat suffered at the hands of SRH earlier by handing them a demoralizing loss by 67 runs.

In the after-match presentation, Du Plessis said:

“What we are trying to get better at as a team is making sure that one of those top-four creates a bit of a base. We have got some really strong hitters at the back. The games where we didn’t do so well, there was a big cluster of wickets in the powerplay. Obviously some stability but at the same time you gonna make sure you don’t go into defensive mode. You still want to try and take the right bowlers on at the right time. He (Rajat Patidar) has been a great addition, there are some fantastic young Indian batters within our set-up. Even someone like Suyash, he played three games and probably didn’t go the way he would have liked to but there’s some real talent there. Rajat comes in and just plays with that freedom, real cool, calm composure about him. That’s always really good traits for a youngster to have. Mahipal is another young guy coming into the team, we are very lucky that we have got some real good Indian batting talent.”

If he (Dinesh Karthik) is hitting sixes like that, we want to get him in and bat as long as possible. He’s just so clear. To be honest, I was actually trying to get out because I was so tired, to get DK in. We were even contemplating – myself ‘retiring out’. And then, we lost that wicket. DK is in such good form. It was a tricky wicket. A lot of guys, their first few balls, they struggled. Lucky for us, there was a drop catch of DK and he just took them apart. Really happy for Wani, personally he was looking for that one match where he blows right through a batting line-up. He’s been threatening with that right through the campaign, very happy that tonight was that night. He’s obviously one of those special bowlers. If you’re not picking him, especially once you get to the lower-order batters, he can run through you very quickly. Wani is doing exceptionally well. I am glad that I could play a role today in making sure that we can get some runs on the board.”

With this win, RCB solidified their spot in the top four with 7 wins from 12 matches, while SRH’s chances took a blow with 6 losses in 11 matches.

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