The new entrants Lucknow Super Giants suffered their second defeat of Indian Premier League's (IPL) as they went down to resurgent Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by 18 runs on Tuesday.
RCB rode on skipper Faf du Plessis' breezy 96 and Josh Hazlewood's brilliant bowling to clinch the issue. The 37-year-old Du Plessis roared back to form after a string of low scores with a 64-ball knock to help RCB post 181 for six after being sent into bat. Hazlewood (4/25) then snared two wickets upfront and two at the fag end as RCB restricted LSG to 163 for eight to register their fifth win of the season.
Meanwhile, LSG skipper talked about the reason behind the hapless loss against RCB. He said that his bowlers failed to execute team 'tactics and strategies'.
"Something we could have done better is we knew what the wicket was and what lengths to bowl. We needed to stick to that for longer periods of time," Rahul said during the post-match press conference.
"Sometimes we just went a little too far ahead in terms of our tactics and strategies. We wanted not to be predictable and try the batter guessing.
"But on a pitch like that, where there was help, even if we were predictable, if we could have kept in the right areas, would have probably got us a couple of more wickets in the middle and put the squeeze on them." The LSG skipper lavished praise on his rival skipper for playing one of the best captain's knocks.
The Super Giants invited RCB to bat and the bowlers managed to strike at regular intervals but had no answers for the former South African captain.
Sri Lankan right-arm pacer Dushmantha Chameer (2/31 off 3) bowled a fruitful first over for LSG, snaring the wickets of opener Anuj Rawat (4) and Virat Kohli (0), whose struggles with the bat continued as he got out for a first-ball duck.
Maxwell (23) looked to continue his explosive run in the IPL. The Australian played a counter-attacking innings as he slammed Chameera for two fours and a six in the third over.
Maxwell went for the reverse sweep off a Krunal Pandya (1/29) delivery but failed to middle it, with a diving Jason Holder completing the catch as RCB slipped to 44/3.
"We have all seen Faf playing over the year. He is a very good player, not just spin but overall he has been playing well in IPL over the last few years," he said.
"It was not an easy wicket to bat on but he constructed the innings really well, something we as a batting unit (could have done), one of us in the top 3 or 4 had to play an innings like that, where we bat deep.
"That could have given us best chance to win this game but unfortunately we couldn't string in those partnerships. It was a very good knock. It was one of the best captain's innings that he (Du Plessis) could have played."
LSG take on Mumbai Indians on Sunday.
