Skipper du plessis

Rajiv Gandhi International STadium: As Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) registered their second win of the IPL 2024 with a morale-boosting victory against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), assistant coach Malolan Rangarajan lauded skipper Faf du Plessis' proactive decision at the toss to bat first to put the opponents on the backfoot right from the start.

Riding on half-centuries by Virat Kohli and Rajat Patidar along with a brilliant all-round performance by Cameron Green, who scored an unbeaten 37 and claimed 2-12, RCB handed SRH a 35-run defeat and registered their first win after six successive defeats. "Faf, well done on taking the call of batting first. It might have been a little bit too obvious but saying that you want to bat first and make the opponent do something different, is brilliant! And to follow that up with the start both of you (Du Plessis and Virat Kohli) gave was brilliant," Malolan said while addressing the team in the dressing room after the win.

After a firm start from the openers, RCB took further control with a sparkling 50 off just 20 balls from Rajat Patidar, followed by all-round efforts from Cameron Green and Swapnil Singh, as well as incisive bowling from Karn Sharma. Skipper Du Plessis appreciated the fighting abilities of his boys over the last couple of matches, which had culminated in this convincing win.