RCB Bold diaries: Everything’s just day by day: Faf du Plessis

The past and the future are two difficult places to conquer. The previous time RCB played SRH, the outcome was forgettable with the team being blown away for 68. But as the teams head into the second bout, the context possibly takes much higher precedence of the narrative over what happened the previous time, with both the teams fighting for a spot in the top 4 with the league phase moving towards its climax.

To forget a game where the team has gotten all out for 68 is easier said than done. Does that still play on the players’ minds going into a game against the same opposition? The Director of Cricket operations spoke about it at length. “I think sometimes it’s always on the back of your mind. We put that game to bed pretty early; we were outplayed. The pitch was completely different and offered just a little bit. They bowled very well, and every time we played and missed, we nicked it. Players are humans, so they believe in these things, but I think also, it’s a different day, it’s a different pitch, it’s a day game. It’s obviously progressed further in the tournament. There’s different pressures at this time, different guys are in form. It’s not necessarily a flow on, but it’s not something you forget in a hurry,” he said.

If that was about the past, RCB have a task at hand of getting into the playoffs. Just like forgetting about the past could be a hard task, how difficult is it to stay in the present without thinking too much into the future? “Very simple for me,” Captain Faf du Plessis said. “It’s very clear that you have to approach each game what’s in front of you. You can’t look at the table, and Net run rate and it’s really just focusing on ‘Today we’ve got practice’, there’s a few things we want to work on; it’s warm once again, it’s gonna be hot tomorrow, it’s a day game, so how do we conserve our energy? Everything’s just day by day. And then when you get an opportunity in a match where you can look at run rate, then and only then do you start talking about net run rate.”

Talking about the past and the future, RCB’s game against SRH will witness the team donning green jerseys as we hope to raise awareness to be mindful of the mistakes of the past and to make the future of our planet better.