IPL 2024: 'Even Virat was struggling to hit the ball', RCB skipper Faf du Plessis after seven-wicket loss to KKR

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) skipper Faf du Plessis admitted that his batters struggled on a difficult pitch  following his team’s seven-wicket defeat to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Friday. RCB, after having been asked to bat first, posted a total of 182/6 following yet another half-century from Virat Kohli (83*). Du Plessis thought that while it was a “decent” score to put up, it was the lack of pace on offer that hurt RCB’s batters, including Virat Kohli, who was clearly struggling to hit the ball.

“Strange one, the first innings we thought that the wicket was two-paced, you could see that when the guys bowled the cutters, the guys really struggled,” Du Plessis said after the match. “We thought it was a decent score knowing that it gets a little easier in the evening, there was a little bit of dew coming in,” added Faf.

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“Looking at the way we batted in the first innings, even Virat was struggling to hit the ball due to the lack of pace,” continued the 39-year-old. Faf du Plessis went onto say that KKR openers Sunil Narine and Phil Salt, who forged 86 runs for the first wicket, troubled RCB’s bowlers and put pressure on the hosts. “You can always know after the game, we can say perhaps try one or two things but the way the two of them (Narine and Slat) were striking the ball, some really good batting there, they put pressure on our bowlers. They hit strong cricket shots and pretty much took the game away. With Narine there, you can’t really go to spin, you want to use pace upfront. That’s also a really good match-up for Salt and the way he plays. They were excellent, really broke the game in the first six overs,” said Du Plessis.

Shreyas Iyer, the KKR skipper, said that Narine, who scored 47 runs before being cleaned up by Mayank Dagar, did a “brilliant job”. “See when Narine comes in to open, he knows he has one job which is to clear the infield. Today we were contemplating whether to start with him or not but he did a brilliant job,” the 29-year-old said.

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Narine, playing his 500th T20 match, was also the Player of the Match and the West Indian attributed to his hard work that has helped him achieve this feat. “It’s a nice milestone (500 T20s). Hopefully 500 more to come. It’s just the self belief and the support staff giving the encouragement. Also the hard work. Powerplay over is the hardest over - just have to let that go and keep it tight. Helps when you win. Players have full freedom to do what they want to do,” said Narine.