RCB 'proud' to be playing 'playing bold' now: Faf du Plessis

Rajat Patidar slammed an attacking fifty and an inspired bowling set up Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s fifth consecutive win to improve their IPL playoff chances with a 47-run thrashing of Delhi Capitals on Sunday.

RCB posted 187/9 after Cameron Green hit an unbeaten 24-ball 32 and bowlers then dismissed the Rishabh Pant-less DC out for 140 runs in 19.1 overs.

Bengaluru, who moved to fifth, have mounted a late charge to make the playoffs but will need to win their last league match - against Chennai Super Kings - and hope other results go their way.

Delhi, meanwhile, slipped to sixth and go into their final match with 12 points. Bengaluru also have 12 points but boast a better run-rate.

RCB skipper Faf du Plessis was buoyed by the new-found aggression shown by the team in their comprehensive win.

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“We want to play that style of cricket - RCB talks about playing bold,” du Plessis said, “and just proud that we can actually do that now, putting our performance together.”

RCB had entered the contest with the knowledge that a defeat would knock them out of playoff race. The start didn’t boost morale with Du Plessis and Virat Kohli getting out cheaply. But Will Jacks and Rajat Patidar put on a counter-attacking 88-run stand for the third wicket.

“It’s just confidence, isn’t it?” du Plessis said of the batting. “First half of the season, we were really fighting for it, didn’t quite come together for us; you just need a couple of guys to find their form in the tournament, and it’s happened.

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“From a batting perspective, we’ve been around that 200 mark six-seven games in a row now [five in their last seven], so boys are batting really well. And then the bowling obviously - I think the first five or six games, we almost couldn’t get wickets at all, and now, this is the third time [in a row] we have bowled a team out. So that’s a good effort. Especially today’s game, with the extra guy batting.”

With DC looking to eclipse the 187 run total, they didn’t make the right start. Swapnil Singh, the left-arm spinner, dismissed David Warner in the first over before Mohammed Siraj and Yash Dayal settled in with testing lines and lengths. RCB took control of things by reducing DC to 30/4 inside four overs. Lockie Ferguson’s 2/23 helped RCB keep DC’s scoring pegged back as the match continued even as stand-in captain Axar Patel fought back with a half century.

“A lot of work has gone in behind the scenes,” du Plessis said. “I think that’s for me the most obvious thing where the change has happened. I feel that behind closed doors, we are getting it right in our processes - we have been talking about what we want to achieve and what we want to get better at. And that, for me, is the shining light for the way the boys have bowled.

“Also, as a captain, I feel we have a lot of variety in our bowling attack. Six or seven options, all very different. So you assess the conditions on the night and you can just pull the best options almost out. But since Siraj has come back, obviously wanting to prove a point, has bowled beautifully. Yash has been exceptional right through the tournament. And Lockie the last few games has been brilliant.”

Seamer Yash Dayal attributed RCB’s renaissance in the second half of the season to “switching on the attacking mode.”

“Our performances have markedly improved in the last few matches. I think we have switched on that attacking mode in the last few matches. It has been a big positive for us,” said Dayal, who took 3/20 against DC, during the post-match press meet.

The left-arm quick said even while RCB were going through a rut, the dressing room remained a tight unit.

“When you lose matches continuously, like it happened with us, morale will come down a bit. But we took it in our stride and bounced back well.

“But even when we were losing, fingers were not pointed at anyone. We have remained positive throughout the season,” he added.

Dayal credited team bowling coach Adam Griffith for the turnaround in the team’s bowling effort. “The credit goes to our bowling coach. He engages us in specific drills, visualising particular opposition batsmen and we discuss this a lot. When I go out to bowl, I just think about how to get the batter out or save some runs. All of us think the same way,” he said.