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Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) bowlers finally showed up to the party and defended a total in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. With a 35-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, RCB ended their losing streak of six games. The comfortable win was a relief for Faf Du Plessis as he admitted he 'would sleep easier tonight'. He also said that he can’t fake confidence into the dugout as performances are the way to do it.
“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. The competition is so strong, the teams are so strong that you'll get hurt if you're not at 100 percent,” Du Plessis said in the post-match presentation.
Frustration over unfavourable home conditions
The former South Africa captain pointed out that more players scoring runs is a big positive as his opening partner Virat Kohli was doing the heavy lifting. He also vented out frustration of the conditions at home making it difficult for bowlers to bowl.
“More guys scoring runs now. First half of the tournament only Virat was scoring runs. Greeny scoring runs now will be massive for him. We know that Chinnaswamy, that's been a big frustration for us. It's a difficult ground to bowl at. We've tried to find a recipe for it, but it's tough,” he added.
RCB spinners wreck SRH batting lineup
RCB spinners were effective against an in-form SRH lineup. Will Jacks got rid of the dangerous Travis head in the first over. Swapnil Singh struck twice to dismiss Aiden Markram and Henrinch Klaasen whereas leg-spinner Karn Sharma added pressure with the wickets of Nitish Reddy and Abdul Samad.
RCB are still alive in the playoffs race even though they stayed at the bottom of the points table with a negative net run rate (NRR). Their next clash will be against Gujarat Titans (GT) at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmebadad on April 28.
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