Royal Challengers Bangalore 174 for 4 (Du Plessis 84, Kohli 59, Brar 2-31) beat Punjab Kings 150 (Prabhsimran 46, Jitesh 41, Siraj 4-21) by 24 runs
Faf du Plessis revealed that he wouldn’t have played this game had the Impact Player rule not been in place. His bruised rib was causing too many problems. But the new rules gave him the chance to affect the game with just his batting and that’s what he did. Handing over the captaincy to Virat Kohli so he could play as a substitute, he hit 84 off 56 balls on a sluggish Mohali pitch to haul Royal Challengers Bangalore to 174 for 4, despite a late slowdown. Then he just rested in the dugout and watched Mohammed Siraj excel in both the powerplay and death to help them defend that total.
Royal Challengers had managed only 37 for 4 in their last four overs after being on 137 for 0 in 16 overs. However, they dominated the powerplay – both with bat and then ball – to hold off Punjab Kings and give their campaign a leg-up after a narrow defeat against Chennai Super Kings at home.
The opening salvo
After a sedate start – du Plessis was on 3 off 7 balls at one point – he manufactured swinging room against left-arm fingerspinner Harpreet Brar and launched him over his head for six. Two balls later, he created more room and bludgeoned him over midwicket for six more. Kohli had also started strongly, driving Brar and then pulling the seamers for fours, as Royal Challengers ran away to 59 for 0 in the powerplay. Du Plessis batted with similar high intent even beyond the powerplay and went onto bring up his half-century off 31 balls.
Deivarayan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
Source: ESPN Crickinfo
