The Faf du Plessis-led Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) went head-to-head with the Pat Cummins-led Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the 30th match of the Indian Premier League 2024 (IPL 2024) at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Monday, April 15.
The Faf du Plessis-led side lost their 6th match of the tournament and 5th on the trot to retain their 10th spot on the points table. They were completely outplayed by the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the match and faced a 25-run defeat.
Batting first, SRH registered 287/3, which is the highest score in the history of the Indian Premier League and the top performer in the innings was Travis Head, who hit a terrific ton.
Chasing the target, Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis batted well from the top, and from the lower order Dinesh Karthik slammed 83 runs, but RCB were restricted to 262/7.
Speaking after the match, Faf du Plessis said that the batting performance of RCB was much better than the previous games, but the target was just too big to chase. Faf du Plessis also revealed that the confidence is low in the RCB camp following back-to-back losses. Faf du Plessis said:
"Much better (batting performance) from us, that was a proper t20 wicket. Just tried to get close in the end, but 280 was very far. It's tough. We tried a few things, we tried different things. There's no way to hide when your confidence is low. The fast bowlers found it quite difficult out there."
Faf du Plessis added that there are certain areas where they need to improve. The RCB skipper also expressed delight over his team giving a good fight to SRH. Faf du Plessis said:
"Similar to the batting perspective, we need to work on few areas. Need to make sure the run rate doesn't go down after powerplay. The guys put up their hand and never gave up (in the run chase). It was good to see the fight, 30-40 runs from the bowling perspective was a bit too much."
In the end, Faf du Plessis highlighted the importance of freshening up before their next clash as players need to commit fully when they are playing the games. Faf du Plessis said:
"It's important to go away and freshen your mind, it's such a mental game. Sometimes you feel your mind is going to explode. When you get back to the contest you have to give full commitment."
How Were Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) In IPL 2024 Before The Clash Against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH)
The Faf du Plessis-led side have looked by far the weakest team in the competition. Before the match against the Sunrisers Hyderabad, they lost 4 matches on the trot and were sitting in the last place in the points table. Overall, they had won just one out of six games they featured in.
The thing responsible for RCB's horror show has been the poor bowling performance of the team. They sit at the bottom in most key bowling metrics: average (43.60), strike rate (26.4), and sixes conceded (65). To go with this, they have not been successful in picking wickets either as they bagged just 25 wickets, which put them last on the wicket-takers table among the teams with at least 6 matches in the competition.
The blame for the poor performance of the team could also be put on the chaotic team management as they have made some massive selection blunders and throughout the season have chopped and changed a lot.
Before the SRH clash, in just 6 matches in the Indian Premier League 2024, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) used 19 players only behind Delhi Capitals, who used 20. Despite spending a huge amount of money on the likes of Cameron Green and Alzarri Joseph, they made the duo warm the bench, which came as a big shock to the fans.
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