Faf du Plessis will "sleep easier" after the bottom-placed Royal Challengers Bangalore ended their six-match losing streak by beating the in-form Sunrisers Hyderabad by 35 runs, in Hyderabad. After Rajat Patidar's 50 off 20 took RCB to 206 for 7, they restricted the home side to 171 for 8, thanks to spinners Karn Sharma and Swapnil Singh, who combined to take four wickets early in the game. With this win, RCB have kept their playoffs qualification hopes alive.
The RCB captain called it a "massive relief" and that the win could get the confidence back in the group after having admitted previously that a series of defeats could take a mental toll on his players.
"Last two games, we've shown great signs of fight," du Plessis said at the presentation. "The SRH game was 270-plus and we got to 260, then the KKR game as well, just one run. It was almost a record chase. We've been close for a while but you need to win matches to get confidence back in the group. It's a massive relief. No matter where we are, when you're not winning it does affect you, it does affect you mentally, it does affect your confidence. I will sleep a bit easier tonight."
"You can't speak confidence into the group, you can't fake confidence into the group. The only thing that gives confidence is performance. First half of the competition we certainly felt like we weren't near our full potential. And when you're playing at 50% or 60%, obviously, you try 100%, but you don't get the confidence in your group. The competition is so strong, the teams are so strong that you'll get hurt [if you're not at 100%].
"The last week and a half we have been working hard to make sure we get better at our own game. You can see the last game; there is some confidence in our batting. We have got more guys scoring runs now. For the first half of the tournament only it was only Virat [Kohli] contributing. Rajat playing two really good innings back-to-back, Greeny [Cameron Green] getting runs, it's massive for him just to get that load off his shoulders. It's important as a batting line-up to contribute together because we have seen the scores are so big, it's never going to be just one guy scoring the runs."
Du Plessis further said it had been frustrating to bowl at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru because of the shorter boundaries. His disappointment was evident in the results as RCB have lost three of their four home games thus far, with their bowlers toiling for wickets. On a bigger ground like the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad, du Plessis said his spinners were able to make the most of the dimensions and conditions.
"Obviously we know that the Chinnaswamy, that's been a real frustration for us. It's a difficult ground to bowl at, to be honest. It's not the easiest ground. Spinners feel like it's a challenge. We are trying to find a recipe where we feel like we can bowl at that ground. But it's been tough for the guys to find a formula that works. When you get grounds like this which is little bit bigger and there is little bit purchase in the wicket... Karn [Sharma] was amazing. A legspinner, I feel even more so now in T20, you have to have a legspinner in your team," he said.
RCB's last win came exactly a month ago against Punjab Kings at the Chinnaswamy where they had chased down 177. On Thursday, against high-scoring SRH, Green felt their decision to bat at the toss was a brave one.
"We always have to celebrate little wins and we feel pretty good now. Always nice to be back to winning ways. It was [a brave call to bat first]. I definitely wasn't in agreement with [batting first] so credit to the captain and coach. SRH have been batting beautifully when they bat first - that was the main reason," Green said.
After a few quiet games, the Australia allrounder fired in all departments on Thursday, first scoring an unbeaten 37 off 20 at No. 5 and then returning 2 for 12 in two overs. He also took a crucial, sharp catch to dismiss Heinrich Klaasen off Swapnil's bowling to leave SRH 56 for 4 inside the powerplay.
"I am still young in my career so I'm trying to figure it out myself," he said of his ideal batting position in T20s. "Of course, I like to bat up the order but it depends on what the team needs. I'm trying to learn myself. [On the Klaasen catch] I think the whole time I kept thinking 'Klaasen, Klaasen' in my head. It was up there for a while, happy I hung on to it."