Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Faf du Plessis was happy to see his predecessor and key batter Virat Kohli hit some sort of form but pointed out their inability to add 10-15 more runs to their total as the reason for their six-wicket defeat to Gujarat Titans in IPL 2022 on Saturday.
Electing to bat in what was their first-afternoon match in this edition of the IPL, Royal Challengers Bangalore rode on half-centuries by Kohli (58) and Rajat Patidar (52) and their 99-run partnership for the second wicket to reach 117/2 at the end of the 15th over. With Kohli still in the middle, Royal Challengers were hoping to reach a 180-plus score. But Gujarat Titans bowled well to restrict them to 170/6.
Chasing 171 for victory, Gujarat with the help of an unbeaten 79-run partnership for the fifth wicket between Rahul Tewatia (43*) and David Miller (39*), reached 174/4 for a comfortable six-wicket win.
“It was a huge step in the right direction to get a solid 50. You want one of your top 4 to get the 70s in the future, so it’s good,” du Plessis said of Kohli’s knock.
However, he rued that the other batters could not capitalize on the base built by Kohli and Patidar.
“We tried to get 175-180. They bowled well in the middle and kept us down. We started well with the ball but they played under pressure really well as they are in the tournament,” du Plessis said after the match.
Reaching 170 was quite morale-boosting for Royal Challengers as they had batted very poorly in their previous two matches — bundled out for 68 by Sunrisers Hyderabad and for 115 by Rajasthan Royals.
“After two bad performances with the bat, coming back was good. But the bowlers being taken down by good batting took it their way,” said du Plessis.
