The pair of Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis, who came to captain RCB after almost two years, scored a lot of runs against the Punjab Kings bowlers at the Mohali ground. The opening pair of Virat and Faf laid the foundation of victory for RCB by sharing a century partnership for the second time in the current season of IPL.
After the half-century innings of Kohli and Faf, thanks to the stormy bowling of India’s number one bowler Mohammad Siraj in white-ball cricket, RCB defeated Punjab Kings by 24 runs on Thursday to register their third win in the tournament.
Faf-Kohli pair did Wonders
The pair of Virat and Faf is the most successful pair in the current season of IPL and is proving to be a boon for RCB. The pair has scored 473 runs in six matches so far. In the very first match against Mumbai, Virat and Faf shared a 148-run partnership. The pair has been instrumental in the number of matches that RCB has won so far. This pair has failed only in the match against CSK. In the remaining five matches, this pair has given good starts to Bengaluru.
Even though the team had to face defeat against Lucknow and KKR, but Virat and Faf got the team off to a solid start in both the matches. Faf and Virat scored runs against every bowler against Punjab on Thursday in Mohali. The 137-run partnership between the two is the fifth highest partnership for RCB in IPL.
Storm of Siraj
World number three bowler Mohammad Siraj remains the most successful bowler of RCB in ODIs. He takes wickets when the team needs them. On Thursday, Siraj put Punjab on the backfoot by dismissing Atharva Taide and Liam Livingstone in the first spell and wrapped up Punjab’s innings by taking the wickets of Harpreet Brar and Nathan Ellis in the second spell.
Siraj has been in sublime touch this season and has taken 12 wickets in just six matches, his best performance so far. Till now he could not take more than 11 wickets in IPL. Last year, he was able to take only nine wickets in 15 matches.
Virat captained after 556 days
On Thursday, RCB’s regular captain Faf Du Plessis could not field due to a rib injury, but came out to bat as an impact player. In such a situation, Virat captained the team in his place. Virat last captained the team on 11 October 2021.
