'Will sleep easier tonight': RCB skipper Faf du Plessis relieved after franchise breaks six-game losing streak

Royal Challengers Bengaluru skipper Faf du Plessis said their 35-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL 2024 on Thursday will help the team sleep better as the franchise has broken the six-game losing streak. “Last two games, we’ve shown great signs of fight. SRH game was 270 plus, we got 260. KKR game as well - 1 run. We’ve been close for a while, but you need to win matches to get confidence as a group. Will sleep easier tonight.

“You can’t speak confidence into the group, can’t fake confidence into the group. Only thing that gives confidence is performances,” he said at the post-match presentation ceremony.

While Virat Kohli made another fifty, Rajat Paidar was declared the Player of the Match for his 19-ball half-century. Camron Green scored 37 not out off 20 balls and Du Plessis was happy that the batters fired in unison.

“The competition is so strong, the teams are so strong that you’ll get hurt if you’re not at 100 percent. More guys are scoring runs now. First half of the tournament only Virat was scoring runs. Greeny scoring runs now will be massive for him.”

SRH were handed a 207-run target which became too much for them as they kept losing wickets regularly trying to play their uber-aggressive cricket. They were reduced to 69/5 at one stage before finishing at 171/8 and losing by 35 runs.

“Not an ideal night. Few over par with the ball and unfortunately lost a few wickets throughout our innings. We were gonna bat first, it seems to be working for us. Before the last few wins, we were thinking that we were a bowl-first team,” SRH captain Pat Cummins.

“The boys have been going really well, it’s T20 cricket, you are not going to win every game. Don’t dwell on this too much.”

Cummins, however, added that his team will not shun their aggressive batting approach after one defeat.

“I think it’s our strong suit. It’s not going to work every game. One or two games where it hasn’t gone our way at the start, we still managed to get a good total. Still think this is the way forward for our boys.”