We didn't maximise our innings: Faf du Plessis dissects RCB’s defeat to DC

Despite a rollicking start to the match for RCB against DC, things took an unexpected turn for the Royal Challengers Bangalore as a decent show with the bat went in vain with their bowlers struggling to find their feet.

Batting first, RCB posted 181 from their quota of 20 overs, thanks to knocks from Faf du Plessis, Virat Kohli and a magnificent half-century from Mahipal Lomror. 

However, the batting effort was undone by a sloppy bowling display, as the DC batters got to the target in a canter, taking on 16.4 overs to finish off the chase. RCB captain Faf du Plessis, in the post-match conference, was positive about the fact that there is still a long way to go until the doors of the playoffs slam shut. 

Faf opened up at length on what exactly went south and where things seemed to be beyond RCB’s reach despite a fine show with the bat. Talking at the post-match award show, Faf du Plessis said, “I thought we were pretty close to par. We thought 185 is a good score. But there was a little bit of dew in the second innings. But we have to give credit to their batters, they played really well. The pressure their batters put on the spinners led to some mistakes.”

He then shed some important light on the slowdown in the middle overs, adding, “We didn't maximise our innings. At about 12 overs, we felt like 185 was a par score. Obviously, you like to have one of those big overs to take you to 200, which would have been a good score. But they made our bowlers sit back a little bit after the powerplay. We felt that we had a good enough foundation for Maxi to come in at three.”

Faf would conclude by saying about Lomror’s roaring knock, stating, “Very pleased to see Lomror come in at No. 5 and play really well. It was very positive for him. Just hope that at No. 3, someone puts their hands up and scores a lot of runs. They pretty much broke the back of the chase in the first six, the way they were going."