Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Faf du Plessis conceded that the former finalists missed the services of Harshal Patel in their 23-run defeat to Chennai Super Kings in Match 22 of IPL 2022 at the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai. Harshal missed the Southern derby as he had exited the RCB bio-bubble last Saturday after his sister passed away.
RCB stars were wearing black armbands to honor Harshal’s late sister. However, in his absence, RCB conceded as many as 216 runs in 20 overs. Robin Uthappa and Shivam Dube tore into the RCB bowling attack. The two batters took CSK from 60/2 in the 10th over to 216, adding 156 runs in the last 10 overs.
CSk vs RCB, IPL 2022 Highlights
Invited to bat, Uthappa (88 off 50 balls) and Dube (95 not out) shared a whooping 165-run partnership off just 74 balls for the third wicket — the highest this season — to rally the innings after CSK was reeling at 36 for 2 in their 200th IPL match.
Both Uthappa, who turned back the clock, and Dube displayed their six-hitting prowess, smashing 17 of them to equal a CSK record for the most sixes in an IPL match.
Barring Josh Hazlewood, who gave away 33 runs and picked up a wicket against his former franchise, none of the other RCB bowlers managed to keep their economy rate under 9.
RCB spinners Glenn Maxwell, Wanindu Hasaranga and Shahbaz Ahmed gave away 83 runs in 8 overs as Faf du Plessis struggled to find the right combination in the absence of Harshal Patel.
“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 the variety. Big miss for us, hopefully, we will have him back soon again,” Faf du Plessis said.
RCB were reduced to 50/4 as their big guns du Plessis, Virat Kohli and Glenn Maxwell failed. However, Shahbaz Ahmed (41 off 27), debutant Suyash Prabhudessai (34 off 18) and in-form Dinesh Karthik (34 off 14) helped them post 193 on the board in 20 overs.
Faf du Plessis lauded the brave effort from their batters, saying it was a solid performance to not get blown away after conceding 216.
“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 added.