Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) thrashed Punjab Kings (PBKS) by 24 runs in their Indian Premier League (IPL) clash as the IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali on Thursday (April 20). RCB's star opening duo of Virat Kohli, Faf Du Plessis did bulk of the scoring to post a competitive total of 174/4 in the stipulated 20 overs. While Kohli scored a 59 off 47, Du Plessis notched 84 off 56 as the duo together stitched an opening stand of 137 runs. In reply Shikhar Dhawan-less PBKS were bundled out 150, thanks to Mohammed Siraj's fiery spell of 4/21.
Despite Kohli and Du Plessis' exploits their batting came under scanner as despite the first wicket fell in the 17th over, RCB failed to go past 200-run mark owing to the slow batting display by their star-studded opener duo. Both the batters scored runs at a slower rate in the middle overs as they took 16.1 overs to score 137
While du Plessis scored at a decent strike rate of 150, RCB's stand-in skipper struggled with the bat. Kohli scored runs at a strike rate of 125. Meanwhile, former Australia's star batter Matthew Hayden, who is part of IPL 2023's elite commentary panel, lambasted Kohli and Du Plessis' slow approach and said that the star duo should not have wasted so many deliveries in the middle overs.
"Can't waste balls, even when one of these two decides to bat till the last five overs, the other has to go, can't just be strolling around. They will have to trust their long batting line-up," Hayden said from the commentary box during the match.
Hayden's fellow commentator Rohan Gavaskar also joined the chorus and criticised Kohli and Du Plessis. Rohan said that PBKS would not have been too unhappy despite not being able to pick wickets.
"If you have a look at the scorecard and see 110 for no loss, 'oh great start'. Having said that PBKS won't be too disappointed with where they are in terms of match context. If they have a good backend, they can restrict RCB despite not taking a wicket," Gavaskar said.
Hayden also cited Dhoni's example to underline the cruciality of strike rate in the slam bang format of the game.
"This is where the matrix of the game is largely not recognisable in terms of batting strike rate. It is so fundamental in T20 cricket, especially at the back end. You talk about the impact players in this IPL, the guys have won matches and sides can never afford to be lured into this false sense of security by batting just securely in partnership. The emphasis will always have to be on scoring quickly. Look at MS Dhoni, who was striking at 400 in one match," Hayden concluded.
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