You want to maximise those last overs – Faf du Plessis on RCB’s defeat against RR

It was a tough pill to swallow for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru as they were humbled by the Rajasthan Royals in the latter’s den. Despite Virat Kohli putting up a fiery show with the bat that saw him registering his 8th century, the number on the board wasn’t enough to get the job done.

RCB captain, Faf du Plessis returned to runs as he scored 44 from just 33 balls. He was also a crucial part of the 125-run opening partnership with Kohli. Once he was back in the pavilion, though, things got tricky for the visitors. Kohli’s unbeaten ton allowed RCB to post 183 but that eventually proved to be at least 10-15 runs short.

Talking at the post-match presentation about the total and the opposition’s performance, Faf said, “I think we found the wicket tricky in the first innings. I thought 190 was a good score, think we could have added 10-15 runs max. Their spinners bowled well (in the middle overs), good decision by them to bowl first. With the dew batting got easier. Virat was playing well at the back end, with someone like Green coming in, you want to maximise those last overs.”

He further added, “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. The pitch definitely got better, you could feel it, the ball was skidding along nicely. We were excellent in the first four overs. I think that 20 runs over (from Dagar) took the momentum away and shifted the pressure back on us.”

He also answered the important question of why he didn’t want to risk Maxwell, stating, “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, went to the left arm spinner and later got the leg spinner (Himanshu Sharma) into the attack. There was no point of being defensive, we needed wickets. When we got Jaiswal out, I didn't feel the need to go to Maxwell. 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.”