MUMBAI: After losing against Mumbai Indian (MI) by six wickets, Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Faf du Plessis seemed disappointed with the batting performance in the last five overs.
The blistering knock from Suryakumar Yadav provided MI a comfortable win against RCB at the Wankhede Stadium.
In the post-match presentation, Faf said, “I think we were at least 20 runs short, in the context of the wicket. They are a strong chasing team and they bat deep. We didn’t capitalise in the last five overs, disappointed due to the lack of runs in those five overs.”
The RCB batter praised Suryakumar as he scored 83 off 35 balls, taking the game away from Bangalore.
“You need to say 200 is a good score (to motivate the players), needed to make sure you take the pace off. They capitalized the first 6 overs with the pace on. He (SKY) is one of the best, when he gets going, it’s difficult to shut him down. Siraj has been fantastic in the first half of IPL. He got away with it for a really long time, but the guys are going to come out and play positively,” he added.
“Towards the back end of the tournament when the wickets get slower, you need to make sure you are around 60 runs in the first 6 overs,” Faf further said.
Put to bat first by MI, RCB put on 199/6 in their 20 overs. After MI took early wickets of Virat Kohli (1) and Anuj Rawat (6), RCB bounced back into the game with a 120-run stand for the third wicket between skipper Faf du Plessis (65 in 41 balls, with five fours and three sixes) and Glenn Maxwell (68 in 33 balls, with eight fours and four sixes).
Late cameos from Dinesh Karthik (30 in 18 balls, four boundaries and a six) and Kedar Jadhav (12* in 10 balls) took RCB to a competitive total.
Jason Behrendorff (3/36) was the pick of the bowlers for MI. Cameron Green, Chris Jordan and Kumar Kartikeya took a wicket each.
In chase of 200, Ishan Kishan’s power-hitting put MI to a good start but the hosts were reduced to 52/2 in five overs after Kishan (42 in 21 balls, four fours and four sixes) and skipper Rohit Sharma (7) were dismissed by Wanindu Hasanranga.
However, once Suryakumar Yadav and Nehal Wadhera settled, there was no looking back for MI. The duo put on 140 runs for the third wicket. Suryakumar scored 83 off just 35 balls, consisting of seven fours and six sixes. Wadhera scored 52* in 34 balls with four boundaries and three sixes, hitting the winning runs for MI.
MI chased down the total with 21 balls and six wickets in hand. Suryakumar Yadav took home the ‘Man of the Match’ award for his explosive knock.
With this win, MI has reached the third spot, with six wins and five losses. They have a total of 12 points. RCB has slipped to seventh position, having won five matches and lost six. They have a total of ten points. (ANI)