Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) got off to a flyer in the run chase of 223 against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) with Virat Kohli taking on the pacers. But Orange Cap holder Kohli’s innings was cut-short by Harshit Rana with a high full toss. Kohli was left frustrated and opted for DRS. However, as per new technology, it was a legal delivery as the ball would have been lower than waist height had he stayed in the crease. Kohli left the field fuming at the umpires and RCB skipper Faf du Plessis wasn’t happy with it either. However, after RCB’s one-run loss, he did not try to criticise the umpires.
“It was crazy, rules are rules, Virat and myself thought that the ball was higher than the waist, I guess they measured from the popping crease, one team thinks it's high, the other doesn't,” Du Plessis told the broadcasters after the match.
The RCB skipper lauded Will Jacks and Rajat Patidar for their game-changing partnership. However, he felt that RCB batters panicked and it resulted in them losing the game by the barest of margins.
“That's how the game goes at times. Then the partnership, it was magnificent, but when you don't win too many games, some sort of panic sets in and the Narine over was game-changing. You don't feel that you have time to settle down and bat, the game doesn't allow it to do that, obviously you have an extra batter, but in chases like these, you have to keep going,” said the former South Africa captain.
RCB almost out of IPL 2024
As RCB lost their seventh match and are unlikely to make it to Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 playoffs, Du Plessis praised his teammates for putting up a fight and thanked the franchise’s loyal fan base too.
“The small things, I am actually proud of the boys tonight, the way we bowled and fielded, we did give away a couple of big overs towards the end, but I thought we kept them down to a par score. We thought we'll go hard in the batting powerplay, find those boundaries at the start of the innings. We were desperate, 10/10 from an effort perspective, the way we put up the effort in the ground, the faces told the story. We've got an unbelievable fanbase, we want to make them happy, we want them to have a smile on their face. We'll have to continue putting in our efforts and try to change things around,” he concluded.
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