IPL 2024: Skipper Faf Du Plessis Wants RCB To Keep Momentum Going After Hat-Trick Of Victories

Bengaluru: Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) made it a hat-trick of wins on Saturday night after their win over Gujarat Titans and skipper Faf du Plessis wanted his players to carry forward the hard-fought momentum they have built over the past fortnight. Chasing Gujarat Titans’ 147 all out, RCB started on a flying note with Virat Kohli and Du Plessis putting on 92 runs for the first six overs. However, Gujarat Titans came back in the game with five wickets in the next 41 runs before Dinesh Karthik ensured there are no further hiccups.

“Boys well done tonight, unbelievable performance. From my side I can feel the confidence in the group when we are out there in the field. I hope that belief is starting to filter through the group of how good a team we are when we are playing the style of cricket we want to play. So unbelievable effort on that,” Du Plessis said after the game.

The South African added, “With the bat I know we were not at our best tonight at the last bit of it. That is a point we will talk about in the review. But make sure we celebrate this because we have worked hard three games on the bounce. We take the momentum with us, we take the confidence with us when we move to the next game.”

RCB assistant coach Adam Griffith also complemented the players for putting together the best powerplay displays for RCB in both batting and bowling, among several other brilliant performances. “From the bowling perspective tonight, 23 for 3, that is the best powerplay of the tournament. We only got hit for two boundaries in that time, so well done, execution was spot-on. We bowled to the conditions perfectly,” coach Griffith said.

“We kept talking about the aggressiveness to take wickets and to bowl a team out is always tough in a T20 game, to take 10 wickets is exactly what we were after, so well done. The last four overs, we took 5-26. We finished beautifully. It was a team bowling effort and we all played our part as a group.”
He added, “And 92/1, that is the best (batting) powerplay RCB has ever had. And Faf, that is the second fastest 50 (18 balls) for RCB. In the field, our first direct-hit run-out of the tournament, it was a really important wicket (Shahrukh Khan) for us, so well done Virat.”

Also getting praise from the assistant coach was Swapnil Singh, who began the game conceding just one run off the first over, and then hit the winning runs with an unbeaten 15 off 9. “Special mention for Swappers, you got the broom out there at the end. Started the game for us, finished the game for us, well done,” coach Griffith concluded.