Hyderabad: Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) skipper Faf du Plessis was a relieved man after his side finally managed to win a game ending a six-match losing streak with a commendable 35-run victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the ongoing 17th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium here on Thursday.
"In the last two games, we've shown great signs of fighting. The SRH game was 270 plus, and we got 260. KKR game as well - 1 run. We've been close for a while, but you need to win matches to get confidence as a group. You can't speak confidence into the group, can't fake confidence into the group. The only thing that gives confidence is performances," Faf du Plessis said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
Opener Virat Kohli, who has been the top-scorer for the team, owns the Orange Cap with 430 runs on his name. Du Plessis is however happy that other batters are getting back amongst runs.
"The competition is so strong, the teams are so strong that you'll get hurt if you're not at 100 per cent. More guys are scoring runs now. First half of the tournament only Virat was scoring runs. Greeny (Cameron Green) scoring runs now will be massive for him," added the South African.
Chasing 207, SRH didn't get the momentum as they lost their openers early in the innings. Their ultra-aggressive approach with the bat backfired as they were 69-5 in the 8th over and couldn't recover and could manage to score only 171/8 in their allotted 20 overs.
"Not an ideal night. Few over par with the ball and unfortunately lost a few wickets throughout our innings. We were going to bat first, it seems to be working for us. Before the last few wins, we were thinking that we were a bowl-first team," Pat Cummins, SRH captain, said.
"The boys have been going really well, it's T20 cricket, you are not going to win every game. Don't dwell on this too much," Cummins added.
Talking about their high-risk and high-reward approach with the bat, Cummins said, "I think it's our strong suit. It's not going to work every game. One or two games where it hasn't gone our way at the start, we still managed to get a good total. Still think this is the way forward for our boys."
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