Live Score
Cricket Teams
Cricket Players
‘People think since he’s a skinny guy he can't hit it big but he can smash them': Faf du Plessis on Shahbaz Ahmed
IPL 2022: Dinesh Karthik, who has had a role to play in all of RCB's victories so far in IPL 2022, remained unbeaten on 44 off 23 while Shahbaz Ahmed scored 45 off 26 balls.
Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Faf du Plessis was all praise for Dinesh Karthik and Shahbaz Ahmed. RCB were 87 for 5 in 12.3 overs, needing 83 runs off just 45 balls at almost 12 runs per over when Dinesh Karthik and Shahbaz Ahmed joined hands in the middle. The experienced Karthik and young Shahbaz then put on an exhibition of strokeplay to help RCB reach the 170-run target in 19.1 overs to beat the Rajasthan Royals by four wickets in an IPL 2022 match at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
Du Plessis said “great characters” were needed to pull the chase off and Karthik and Shahbaz were brilliant.
“To pull it out of nowhere, you need some great characters and DK is as great a character as you can get. His composure under pressure is amazing. He is really calm and such a great asset to us. We bowled really well, upto the 18th over and then Jos got some good shots. Got a score which we thought was a bit above-par with the conditions and the surface spinning a bit. We started quite well though, but then Yuzi (Chahal) bowled really well to get them back in,” du Plessis said in the post-match presentation.
Also Read | Kohli's run out by Chahal sparks meme fest on Twitter, RR post perfect tweet
Karthik, who has had a role to play in all of RCB's victories so far in IPL 2022, remained unbeaten on 44 off 23 while Shahbaz scored 45 off 26 balls.
Pointing towards the lean physique of all-rounder Shahbaz, the former South Africa captain said the left-hander “can smash it a long way.”
But for me, the great thing about today once again was our ability to come back to win games out of nowhere. People think that since he (Shahbaz) is a small skinny guy, he can't hit it long but he can smash it a long way. We didn't bowl him today because of the wet ball and left-hander being around but he'll definitely play a long part in this season," he added.
Shahbaz hit three sixes on Tuesday - the most by an RCB player in the match.
