Mumbai, April 12
After Mumbai Indians (MI) thrashed Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) by seven wickets in an IPL 2024 match, visiting captain Faf du Plessis conceded his side’s struggles have been mainly due to their bowling department not having as many weapons to stem the run-flow of opposition batters.
At the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday night, after making 196/8 with the bat, RCB conceded 72 runs for no scalps in the powerplay, as MI chased down the total in 15.3 overs. "At the moment, it feels like, from a batting perspective we have to get and try and push for 220 to have a chance. From a bowling perspective, we don't have as many weapons.
"So, unfortunately, it comes down to the batters to make sure that we use our form and our confidence. The scores that we put on the board are probably going to be the only way we are going to get into the competition," said du Plessis after the match ended.
All RCB bowlers returned with an economy rate of above 10, with their most economical bowler being pacer Vijaykumar Vyshak, who had figures of 1-32 three overs at an economy rate of 10.7.
"From a bowling perspective, we have lacked a little bit of penetration (at the start) so we have to go out and find creative ways within our squad we can get a team two or three-down in the powerplay. Just so that you feel like your bowling innings can start on the front foot. It feels, for the last few games, that we are on the back foot after the first few overs," added du Plessis.
What also helped MI in their chase of 197 was the dew on offer in the second innings, helping Ishan Kishan and Rohit Sharma establish an explosive opening stand of 101 runs, which put RCB under tremendous pressure.
"You also have to give credit in the way that the boys from MI came out and played. Put a lot of pressure on our bowlers. Made our bowlers make a lot of mistakes in the powerplay especially. You could see that anyone who came in could find the middle of the bat quite easily."
"We did know that and spoke about it in the first innings. The dew here looked like it was going to be big so we felt we needed to get 215, maybe even 220. Obviously, 190 (196/8) or whatever we got wasn't enough runs. It (dew) is a big thing in some venues as we know."
"When the dew settles in, it is really tough. You could see the boys were bowling a few full tosses. We changed the ball a few times. It was really, really wet. But that's just the game of cricket. It is probably the only sport where the conditions have such a big impact," he elaborated.
On the batting front, du Plessis had an 82-run stand with Rajat Patidar as the duo along with Dinesh Karthik smashed half-centuries. But du Plessis rued his team lacking in more top-order partnerships which could have propelled them to a bigger total.
"Therefore, in your first innings here, you make sure you get a score that builds scoreboard pressure. I thought we did a good job. I thought we fought with the bat. We were never really in a position where we could really (dominate), as we lost crucial wickets at crucial stages.
"Myself and Rajat got a nice partnership together and then you lose a wicket and then you rebuild and then you again lose a wicket. With them (MI) they just had the fluency in their innings, their guys came in and played positive at the end, which gave them the platform for the full crack," Du Plessis added.
RCB will next face Sunrisers Hyderabad on their return to M Chinnaswamy Stadium on April 15, aiming to break their four-match losing streak. RCB are currently in ninth position with a net run-rate of -1.124.
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