Hyderabad: Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) have bounced back in their IPL 2024 campaign with a morale-boosting win in the last match, with captain Faf du Plessis’ initiative to bat first putting the opponents on the backfoot right from the start.
Addressing the team in the dressing room after the win, assistant coach Malolan Rangarajan lauded the skipper’s proactive decision at the toss.
“Faf, well done on taking the call of batting first. It might have been a little bit too obvious but saying that you want to bat first and make the opponent do something different, brilliant! And to follow that up with the start both of you (Du Plessis and Virat Kohli) gave was brilliant,” Malolan said.
After a firm start from the openers, RCB took further control with a sparkling 50 off just 20 balls from Rajat Patidar, followed by all-round efforts from Cameron Green and Swapnil Singh, as well as incisive bowling from Karn Sharma.
Skipper Du Plessis appreciated the fighting abilities of his boys over the last couple of matches, which had culminated in this convincing win.
“We have worked really hard for the last two games to get to this point. We have scratched, we have fought, everyone can say that they feel like they have given everything, so we deserve this feeling, we are all sitting here feeling we are proud of our work, but there is a lot left in the tank,” Du Plessis said.
Malolan praised Patidar’s innings, which contained as many as five sixes amid a remarkable hitting display against spin. “Rajat, high quality innings. It felt like the pitch was spinning a bit, keeping a bit low, but you made it look like we were playing on a concrete pitch,” Malolan said.
“You got us to a stage where even if we lost a couple of wickets we were ahead of the game. To me, that was one of the most important phases of the game and you stood up like the champion you are,” he said.
Karn picked up two key wickets, giving away just 29 runs from his four overs, and Malolan pointed out how hard the leg-spinner had prepared before the match.
“Karn, I remember speaking to you maybe a week back, had a very honest chat about how you felt about not playing and the work you have put in behind the scenes. You worked very well specifically for every batter before the game, and very happy to see how you ended up bowling today, well done,” Malolan said.
Also taking a couple of important wickets after making a vital 12 off 6 was Swapnil, on his RCB debut.
“Two days ago I got to know that I will play. So I just wanted to go out and play. We won the game, that was most satisfactory, and I took two crucial wickets by god’s grace,” Swapnil said.
Patidar felt that the win had created a good environment, and Swapnil agreed.
“Obviously, when you win a game, the tempo in the team changes. Everyone feels good. Last two games also, we actually missed by a small difference. So, yeah, everyone would be happy, obviously, but, yeah, still a long way to go. One game at a time,” Swapnil said.
