Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s (RCB) IPL 2024 campaign got off to a disappointing start as they suffered a six-wicket defeat at the hands of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at Chepauk on Friday (March 22).
After the loss, RCB skipper Faf du Plessis admitted that his team fell short by about 15-20 runs, highlighting that the pitch was not as challenging as they made it look like in the first 10 overs.
"Always when you play, you get a bit of dip after the six overs. Chennai are a very good team in the middle overs, they squeeze you with their spinners. Maybe we were about 15-20 runs short, the pitch wasn’t as bad as we played in the first 10 overs," Du Plessis said at the post-match presentation.
Opting bat first, RCB lost half their side for just 78 runs despite a 41-run opening stand between skipper Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli.
However, a resilient effort from Anuj Rawat, who scored 48 off 25 balls, and Dinesh Karthik, who remained unbeaten on 38 off 26 balls, propelled RCB to a competitive total of 173/6 in 20 overs.
“Really good for Dinesh to set up his season, especially for someone who hasn’t played a lot of cricket. Anuj has shown some great promise for us, he showed great composure for a young guy and great power through the backend,” the RCB captain added.
Chasing the target, CSK's Rachin Ravindra laid a solid foundation with a blistering 37 off just 15 balls. Despite RCB's efforts to snatch wickets, Shivam Dube's unbeaten 34 off 28 balls and Ravindra Jadeja's 25* off 17 balls took the hosts over the line with eight balls to spare.
“They were always ahead in the chase, we tried to squeeze and get a couple of wickets, but in the end we didn’t have enough runs,” Du Plessis stated.
The RCB skipper also explained his decision to bat first after winning the toss. “On this pitch, it is always better to bat first. Last year, the record was very skewed towards teams that batted first. The ball started to grip a bit with our spinners,” he remarked.
RCB’s next match is scheduled against Punjab Kings in Bengaluru on Monday (March 25).
(With Cricbuzz inputs)
