'I felt we were 15 or 20 runs short' - Faf du Plessis opens up after losing opening clash against CSK

Faf du Plessis (Source -Twitter/X)

The curtain-raiser of the seventeenth edition of IPL 2024 was played between the defending champions, the Chennai Super Kings, and the Royal Challengers Bengaluru, at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

Over the years, the Southern Derby has always produced some mouth-watering classics, and one could safely say that this match was quite the same. Basically, it had everything encompassed within it, with loads of drama all throughout. Right from the opening ceremony in the evening to CSK's new skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad walking out for the toss, this match had everything.

At the end, CSK came out on top, conquering RCB by a margin of six wickets with eight balls to spare, which was rather comfortable at the end. This victory meant CSK kept their unbeaten streak at the Chepauk intact, winning their eighth game on the trot, with RCB managing a solitary victory by 14 runs back in the inaugural season of the marquee tournament. 

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Du Plessis attributed RCB's loss to their faltering batting display in the powerplay. Notably, after the skipper, in particular, got off to a flier in the first four overs, courtesy of the seven fours he had already hit by then, his side was sitting pretty at 37/0 after four overs and would have been looking for anything between 50-55 in the first six to set the tone for the rest of the innings.

However, it was the lanky left-arm pacer from Bangladesh, Mustafizur Rahman, who completely reversed the momentum with his double-wicket over, followed by Deepak Chahar dismissing Glenn Maxwell for a golden duck, to leave RCB derailed from a score of 41 for no loss to 42/3 after the powerplay.

The South African stated that he felt his side lost a wicket too many in the first seven overs, which implied the batters coming in had to occupy the crease for a sufficient duration to restructure the innings once again. He also mentioned that he felt they were 15-20 runs short on a pitch that didn't play as poorly as his squad played out the first half of their innings.

"Unfortunately, we lost a little bit too many wickets in that first seven overs, which meant that the guys needed to bat a little bit and stable the innings again. And, at the end, I felt we were 15 or 20 runs short on a pitch that wasn't as bad as we played in the first ten overs," du Plessis said on the official broadcast after the game. 

The ex-CSKian also expressed that CSK is a really good team when it comes to the middle-overs and the fact that teams coming to the Chepauk almost feel compelled to get ahead of the game during the powerplay since it is pretty much in the DNA of CSK to limit the flow of runs by unleashing their spinners after the first six overs.

"When you play here, you feel like you have to almost get ahead of the game a little bit in that first six overs because CSK is a very good team in the middle overs. For so many years, they squeeze you with the spinners.", he added.

Faf also stated that even though they pegged CSK back by getting their score to read 114/4 in 13 overs, with the Men in Yellow still needing 60 in the last seven overs, CSK were going at a rate that always kept them ahead of RCB.

"We were always a little bit behind in terms of trying to get ahead of the game," du Plessis said. "They were batting at a pace where they were always still in front of the game even though we were pulling it back", the 39-year-old stated.

Faf's side did try the shot ball ploy with Shivam Dube, but he navigated it fairly well as his unbeaten 66-run partnership fifth-wicket partnership with fellow southpaw Ravindra Jadeja steered the five-time champions to an untroubled win by six wickets with eight balls to spare.

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Mustafizur Rahman registers his best IPL figures 

Earlier in the game, it was The Fizz who stirred up total disorder in RCB's camp, producing two double-wicket overs, which included the prized wickets of the RCB captain, Rajat Patidar, Virat Kohli, and Cameron Green. For his wonderful exhibition with the ball and for ending up with figures of 4/29 in his four overs, which are his current best in the tournament, Mustafizur was awarded the Player of the Match award. 

 

 

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