Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain Faf du Plessis completed 1000 runs for RCB in the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Tuesday. Faf reached this milestone by playing a brilliant knock of 65 off 41 balls (five fours and three sixes) in the match against Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede Stadium.
Faf joined RCB in 2022 as a captain, he has played 27 IPL matches and scored 1044 runs at an average of 41.76 and a strike rate of 142.62. He has scored nine half-centuries for the side, with best score of 96. In the ongoing season of IPL, the RCB skipper is currently the ‘Orange cap’ holder with 576 runs in 11 matches. He is scoring runs at an average of 57.60 and a strike rate of 157.81. He has bagged six fifties so far.
The South African batter played his debut match with Chennai Super Kings in 2012. For, CSK, he scored 2721 runs in 92 games at an average of 35.34. He scored 20 half-centuries for the Yellow Army. Faf was also part of the now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiant, playing eight matches and scoring 214 runs at an average of over 30 with two fifties. Faf has scored 3,979 runs in his IPL career in 127 matches at an average of 36.50 and a strike rate of 133.93. He has scored 31 half-centuries, with best score of 96.
Put to bat first by MI, RCB put on 199/6 in their 20 overs. After MI took early wickets of Virat Kohli (1) and Anuj Rawat (6), RCB bounced back into the game with a 120-run stand for the third wicket between skipper Faf du Plessis (65 in 41 balls, with five fours and three sixes) and Glenn Maxwell (68 in 33 balls, with eight fours and four sixes). Late cameos from Dinesh Karthik (30 in 18 balls, four boundaries and a six) and Kedar Jadhav (12* in 10 balls) took RCB to a competitive total.
Jason Behrendorff (3/36) was the pick of the bowlers for MI. Cameron Green, Chris Jordan and Kumar Kartikeya took a wicket each. In the chase of 200, Ishan Kishan’s power-hitting put MI to a good start but the hosts were reduced to 52/2 in five overs after Kishan (42 in 21 balls, four fours and four sixes) and skipper Rohit Sharma (7) were dismissed by Wanindu Hasanranga.
However, once Suryakumar Yadav and Nehal Wadhera settled, there was no looking back for MI. The duo put on 140 runs for the third wicket. Suryakumar scored 83 off just 35 balls, consisting of seven fours and six sixes. Wadhera scored 52* in 34 balls with four boundaries and three sixes, hitting the winning runs for MI. MI chased down the total with 21 balls and six wickets in hand.
Suryakumar Yadav took home the ‘Man of the Match’ award for his explosive knock. With this win, MI has reached the third spot, with six wins and five losses. They have a total of 12 points. RCB has slipped to seventh position, having won five matches and lost six. They have a total of ten points.
