IPL 2023: RCB's Faf du Plessis goes past 9,000 T20 runs during 39-ball 62 against RR

Faf du Plessis continued his golden form in the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) by bringing up his fifth half-century of the season in seven games, helping the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) recover from a shaky start against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Bengaluru on Sunday. IPL 2023: Full coverage | Points table | Schedule | Results | Orange Cap | Purple Cap​ Du Plessis, who continued to brave a rib injury to dish out yet another batting masterclass, smashed a 39-ball 62 and brought RCB back on its feet by stitching a whirlwind 127-run third-wicket partnership with Glenn Maxwell, who once again ended up outscoring him with a 44-ball 77. During the course of his blistering knock, du Plessis brought up an important personal milestone, becoming the third South African cricketer after AB de Villiers and David Miller to go past 9,000 runs in T20 cricket. The ex-Proteas skipper, who would get substituted for a second game running, brought up the milestone with a boundary off RR pacer Trent Boult, also completing his 30th IPL half-century in 31 deliveries in the process. The knock would also take him past 400 runs this season. The du Plessis-Maxwell partnership, which nearly helped Bangalore pull off a record chase against the Chennai Super Kings last week, put the home team in a solid position from where they would have had their sights on a third 200-plus total of the season. Instead, a superb direct hit by Yashasvi Jaiswal that ran du Plessis out followed by tidy overs from Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal helped Rajasthan fight back in the back end of the Bangalore innings. Sandeep Sharma bowled a tidy final over as RCB finished on 189/9. Earlier, Kiwi left-arm pacer Boult got RR off to a top start, removing Virat Kohli and Shahbaz Ahmed in each of his first two overs with Kohli, filling in as skipper for a second game in a row, departing for a golden duck off the very first delivery. Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News ,  India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.