Royal Challengers Bangalore fans will remember April 23 as a black day in the Indian Premier League. It was on this day in 2017 that their team slumped to the lowest total by any team in IPL history — bundled out for 49 by Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens.
Five years hence on April 23, 2022, they slumped to their second-lowest total — 68 against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Brabourne Stadium here.
RCB skipper Faf du Plessis termed it a bad day in the office but blamed his batters` failure to master the swinging ball in the first four overs for their eventual nine-wicket capitulation against SRH on Saturday.
Du Plessis said the wicket was good and the ball was swinging, probably more than they encountered so far in this event.
“Those first four overs… It`s probably not losing four or five wickets upfront. It was a little spicy in that first few overs, the balls swung a little bit, but you still have to find a way to get a good foundation, even if it means you just absorb it a little longer and sacrifice a few runs just to get through that seaming and swinging ball. Then once you`re through it, it would get easier,” du Plessis said during the post-match interview on Saturday.
He gave credit to Sunrisers pacer Marco Jansen for the way he bowled that reduced RCB to 8/3 at the end of the second over.
“Marco Jansen the way he bowled in that first over was very good, swinging the ball both ways and obviously getting some big wickets,” he added.
The South African batter said though the ball was swinging it was up to his batters to find a way to tackle it and get the team to a good total.
“Looking at other matches in other games, it looked like this wicket looked probably the best out of everyone so far. Our expectation was this would be a very good wicket, but in all good wickets, you still have to assess in those first two overs. There are no excuses. You still need to find a way,” du Plessis said.
The Royal Challengers skipper said the only thing his team can do now is to keep their chin up and learn from the debacle.
“A day like today is not great, so you want to make sure you don`t get all emotional about a day like today. It`s a bad day at the office, you keep your chin up, it`s a long tournament, and in a day or two when we look at this game, we make sure we get the learning from it so when we play these guys again or come back to this ground, there is a bit of learning that has happened for us as a team going forward,” he said.
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