Rajasthan Royals remained unbeaten in the ongoing season of the IPL with their 6-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Thursday.
RCB put up a total of 183/3 in 20 overs thanks to Virat Kohli’s unbeaten century, but Jos Buttler stole the show with his unbeaten ton that led RR to victory with 5 deliveries to spare.
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RCB skipper Faf du Plessis touched upon the tricky nature of the wicket and credited RR skipper Sanju Samson’s decision to field first after having won the toss.
“I think we found the wicket tricky in the first innings. I thought 190 was a good score, but I think we could have added 10-15 runs max,” the South African began.
“Their spinners bowled well in the middle overs, and it was a good decision for them to bowl first. With the dew, batting got easier,” he said.
Kohli remained unbeaten at 113 off 72 deliveries as he brought up the slowest century in IPL. Faf, who added 44 runs off his willow also added that it seemed easier to take on the seamers instead of the spinners on the day.
“Virat was playing well at the back end, with someone like Green coming in, you want to maximise those last overs. We tried to squeeze as hard as we can, but it was tricky to hit against the spinners. It was easier to hit the seamers,” he continued.
“The pitch definitely got better, you could feel it, the ball was skidding along nicely,” du Plessis added.
RR’s chase was off to a shaky start as they lost Yashasvi Jaiswal early in the innings for a duck, but Samson and Buttler put up a triple-digit stand to take the game away from RCB.
Buttler got his touch back as he smashed RCB spinner Mayank Dagar for 20 runs in his first over and there was no looking back for RR.
“We were excellent in the first four overs. I think that 20 runs over took the momentum away and shifted the pressure back on us,” the RCB skipper said.
Glenn Maxwell did not get to bowl on the day and du Plessis opined that it had to do with the batters at the crease.
“Not bowling Maxwell was because all right-handers were batting, so went to the left-handed spinner initially. With two right-handers at the crease, we went to the left-arm spinner and later got the leg spinner, Himanshu Sharma, into the attack,” he explained.
“There was no point in being defensive, we needed wickets. When we got Jaiswal out, I didn’t feel the need to go to Maxwell,” he added.
RCB were let down by woeful misfields and a sub-par presence in the field as such. Du Plessis concluded by stating that his side needed to buck up and up the ante on the field and show more intensity.
“Fielding was average, it’s something we have spoken about, we’ll work and try to improve. Not worried about catches, it’s about showing intensity on the field,” he signed off.
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