JAIPUR: After Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) were handed their fourth defeat of IPL 2024 after losing to Rajasthan Royals by six wickets, captain Faf du Plessis conceded that the visitors’ should have pushed a little harder with the bat to post a total around 190-195 mark.
Virat Kohli brought out his vintage self to slam his eighth IPL century via an unbeaten 113 off 72 balls, laced with 12 fours and four sixes. Kohli hit almost 62% runs of RCB’s total, while the rest of the batters made 59 runs from 48 balls, with him saying the ball was holding up a bit.
But the pitch at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium went on to become better for batting, as dew became a factor. Jos Buttler weathered the early storm and then brought out the attacking play to perfection to hit exactly 100 runs off 58 balls, laced with nine fours and four sixes in what was his 100th IPL game.
"I think batting out there for quite a bit with Virat, we found the wicket was tricky and low. In our heads, we felt 190 would be a good score. I did feel last over or two, we could have maximized 10-15 runs more. In the evening, you saw with the dew it played much nicer. I feel now in hindsight, we should've pushed a little harder to get to 190-195 mark.
"It was a good toss to win (for RR), you did see that it played much nicer with the dew. Virat was playing really well at the back end. Whether it was Virat or a Greeny or a DK coming in, we could have scored a few more. We tried, but it was quite tricky to hit.
"With the spinners, a lot of balls were hitting the bottom of the bat. I think the pitch definitely got better. That's what dew does, that's the nature of the wicket. I thought it was a good toss for them to win, " said du Plessis after the match.
While defending 183, in the last over of power-play, left-arm spinner Mayank Dagar conceded 18 runs as Buttler and Sanju Samson got an opening to establish a match-changing 148-run stand and help RR chase down the total in 19.1 overs.
Dagar and rookie Himanshu Sharma gave away 63 runs collectively as RCB’s spinners became ineffective yet again, even as RR’s experienced spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal tied down the RCB batting with some exceptional middle-overs bowling.
"We started well in the first four overs, then the one over from our spinners, 20 runs, it shifted the pressure back onto us. Maxwell, all the right-handers batting in the middle, that's why I went to the left-arm spinner, Mayank, who's been bowling well for us this season.
"And the legspinner (Himanshu), you want to use the attacking option. When we got the wicket of (Yashasvi) Jaiswal, with the two right-handers in the middle, it didn't feel like the right time to use the off spinner, " concluded du Plessis.