Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper du Plessis backed Harshal Patel for the rest of the IPL 15th edition while du Plessis played an outstanding knock of 96 and Hazlewood took four wickets to guide RCB to win the match by 18 runs against Lucknow.
Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Faf du Plessis backed Harshal Patel for the rest of the IPL 15th edition. The skipper played an outstanding knock of 96 runs and Josh Hazlewood took four wickets and helped Royal Challengers Bangalore defeat Lucknow Super Giants by 18 runs at the Dr. DY Patil Stadium.
Harshal Patel took two wickets for the side. Faf du Plessis, RCB skipper, who was adjusted as ‘player of the match in the post-match presentation said,
“Due to the nature of this ground, you do run a lot of 2s and towards the end, it can be tiring. I got a few 96, and a 97, so hopefully (a ton) is around the corner.”
“We needed someone to stabilize the innings and then get going at the back end. Today, grateful that I could do it. Important that I can follow my blueprint of batting. If you bowled slowly into the wicket to the big boundary, it never felt like you had enough power to clear that boundary.”
It was a chase that never really escaped Lucknow. They lost wickets and early ground to the new ball, with Hazlewood breathing fire upfront and once the power play wasn’t utilized, the pressure started to escalate.
“I was tired but was still hoping that I could hit some at the end. Early in the innings, there was help for the bowlers and they did get us in trouble but we found a way. Our bowlers then stuck to the plans and when you do that on a ground like this, it’s tough for the batters,”
he added.
Talking about the Indian Premier League points table, the South African said:
“At the moment, a lot of teams at the top, and many in the middle, and when that happens, it’s always a scramble (for playoff spots). But that’s out of our control. We need to just work on our strengths and we actually can get better in a few things.”
“Need one guy to bat through consistently, but we haven’t had that frequently. DK has saved us quite a bit, hopefully, today is a stepping stone in that direction. Before the last two games, it (death bowling) was a concern as we were getting hit in areas we shouldn’t have been. But in the last two games, we’ve got hit to where we’ve wanted to. Harshal has been exceptional, watch out for him, he’s going to be special for the rest of the season too,”
the RCB skipper added.
