KOCHI: Faf du Plessis produced a rescue act to propel Royal Challengers Bangalore even as Virat Kohli’s batting woes continued, the latter being dismissed for a first-ball duck for only the fourth time in his IPL career. Having won the toss, the Lucknow Super Giants made early inroads into RCB’s batting at the DY Patil Stadium.
Thankfully for the franchise, the man who took over the reins from Kohli, Du Plessis, played a captain’s knock. His 64-ball 96 proved pivotal for RCB as they beat LSG by 18 runs.
Kohli’s numbers in this competition speak for themselves. However, this season has been a different story for the former RCB captain and his one-ball stay was among the biggest talking points besides Faf’s tempered knock. Relinquishing captaincy was expected to free up ‘Kohli the batter’, but given the standards he has set for himself, he is yet to click.
Luckily for RCB, it hasn’t caused much damage as those around are producing the goods. After opener Anuj Rawat fell cheaply to Dushmantha Chameera in the first over, Kohli was called into action. After his unbeaten 41 against Punjab in their opening game, he has made scores of 12, 5, 48, 1, and 12 in the following games. Here, he played the ball straight to Deepak Hooda at backward point, and it was Kohli’s first golden duck since 2017.
Brief scores: RCB 181/6 in 20 ovs (Du Plessis 96, Holder 2/25) bt LSG 163/8 in 20 ovs (Hazlewood 4/25).