Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Faf du Plessis has stated that the team missed the services of Harshal Patel against Chennai Super Kings after losing against them by 23 runs, Du Plessis also praised the batters for not being blown away even after conceding a huge total of 216 runs.
Chennai Super Kings registered their first win in IPL 2022 over Royal Challengers Bangalore by 23 runs. Winning the toss, RCB invited CSK to bat first. Robin Uthappa and Shivam Dube demolished the bowling attack of RCB. From 60/2 in the 10th over both of them helped the team to reach a total of 216/4.
Uthappa scored 88 runs from 50 balls while Dube smashed an unbeaten 95. The duo stitched a partnership of 165 from 74 balls for the third wicket. Barring Josh Hazlewood who conceded 33 runs taking a single wicket no other bowler managed to keep their economy rate under 9. The spinners leaked 83 runs in 8 overs and du Plessis was struggling to find the right bowling combination in absence of Harshal Patel.
Du Plessis revealed that the team majorly missed Harshal and was hopeful that he will back in the team very soon.
“You see the value he (Harshal) offers not just to this team but any team. He has got the ability to really stop the game. We missed that tonight. Even towards the end, we lacked variety. Big miss for us, hopefully, we will have him back soon again,” Faf du Plessis said in the post-match presentation.
In response, RCB were reduced to 50/4. However, Shahbaz Ahmed scored 41 runs from 27 balls, debutant Suyash Prabhudessai scored 34 runs from 18 balls and Dinesh Karthik scored 34 from 14 balls. The innings from these three batters helped the team end up on 193/9.
Du Plessis praised the batters for not getting blown away after having such a huge target ahead of them.
“Impressed by the way the guys coming in on a debut at 5 or 6 and playing like that just shows depth in our bowling. Even though we lost we were only 20 runs short on a total we should have been blown out of order and that is impressive,” he stated.
