Faf du Plessis played a fine knock of 96 to give his team a fighting chance against Lucknow. (P.C.:iplt20.com)
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper Faf du Plessis equaled his highest score in the IPL against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) by smashing 96 off just 64 balls on Tuesday. Although the 37-year-old fell just short of a well-deserved maiden IPL century, he has put his team in a commanding position.
Faf du Plessis didn’t get off to a fluent start and was struggling to time the ball in the beginning. However, once the RCB captain got into his groove, there was no stopping him.
Fans on Twitter hailed Du Plessis for once again proving why he has been a fantastic buy for the Bangalore franchise. Here are some of the reactions:
This is how Faf plays, he’ll hold up one end and keep playing release shots. RCB knew what they were getting. It’s your problem that you chose to pair him up with this top order.
From 7 for 2(1) to 181 for 6(20) – great recovery by #RCB led by their captain Faf Du Plessis.
Captain standing up when the team needs him and leading from the front. A cricketer defined by character. Let’s go, Faf du Plessis. What a splendid knock this has been!
#LSGvRCB
Good innings from Faf. Him being slow in the PP (15 off 17) was understandable today given the wickets lost, but then accelerated well in the middle overs, adding 53 off 31 (10.25 RPO) in the next 10 overs, when RCB scored 93. And then added 26 off the next 16 when the other end
Crisis man of IPL, Faf Du Plessis standing tall, fifty from 40 balls, at one stage #RCB was 7 for 2. Well played, Captain.
50 up for the captain Faf, top knock with his team in trouble.
Faf answering all slander against him….RCB keep finding heroes every game.
Don’t judge Faf’s innings with the way he played. He stood there when biggies like Kohli & Maxwell dropped off.
#RCBvsLSG #IPL
Highest scores by a batter in his 100th IPL inning.
96 – FAF DU PLESSIS vs LSG, 2022 ***
82 – Suryakumar Yadav vs SRH, 2021
69 – David Warner vs RCB, 2016
59 – Rohit Sharma vs RCB, 2014
59 – Murali Vijay vs RPS, 2016
#IPL2022 #LSGvRCB https://t.co/3H5U4XEMvk
WICKET!!
Faf du Plessis 96 (64)
c. Stoinis b. Holder
An exceptional knock by the RCB skipper comes to an end. Well done, sir 🫡
#AbApniBaariHai #IPL2022 #LSGvRCB
A perfectly measured and composed innings from Faf du Plessis, and man has he got legs between the wickets. Fantastic knock. Well played skip. 🔥 #LSGvRCB
Well played captain faf all my rant has worked but so bad last over… Only 4 runs will hurt RCB big time.
KL kept one over of bishnoi for dk, faf didn’t even let dk face a ball 🤣🤣🤣
Tragic Faf du Plessis couldn’t get his century. Masterly knock, him, as good as any by any opener in 15 seasons of the IPL. Absorbed the pressure of early wickets, dropped anchor and batted with gr8 application almost till the end to take RCB to a competitive score
RCB fans never deserved Faf Du Plessis . Guy is single handedly carrying this RCB batting line up and still the fans don’t give him enough respect.
It just took one handshake from Rutu, to bring back Faf’s form . Talk about Impact Rutu is having from now. https://t.co/xqJCu86sEa
From the very first over to the very last ,he kept the hopes alive for RCB fans. Faf du plessis the lone Warrior tonight. ❤️ Onto, captaining the bowling unit now and grabbing the 2 points . 🙌🏻 https://t.co/6jQ932J0Dx
Faf du plessis is the Greatest South African Player to play ipl . You can’t change my mind
Faf du Plessis’ 96 powers RCB to 181/6
RCB had to post a big score as dew could have made chasing slightly easier. However, they got off to the worst possible start, losing Anuj Rawat and Virat Kohli off successive deliveries.
Glenn Maxwell tried to counter-attack and was successful to a certain extent. However, even the Aussie star couldn’t hang around for long. Suyash Prabhudessai too soon departed and RCB were in a spot of bother at 62/4.
This was when Faf du Plessis realized he had to up the ante to take his team to a respectable total. He got some great support in the form of Shahbaz Ahmed, who played another important knock with the bat.
The duo added 70 runs for the fifth wicket and that set it up nicely for the finisher Dinesh Karthik to explode at the end. Du Plessis continued to find boundaries at regular intervals and looked to be racing towards his maiden IPL ton.
However, the 37-year-old was caught in the deep on 96 as RCB ended up with 181/6 in their 20 overs.
LSG are capable of batting deep and have an in-form KL Rahul at the top. They will definitely back themselves to chase the total down.
