“Great players go through phases like this”: Faf du Plessis backs Virat Kohli to turn his IPL 2022 form around for RCB

Faf du Plessis backs Virat Kohli: The captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore is confident about his predecessor’s abilities.

Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Faf du Plessis believes that his team was adversely affected by all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga dropping a sitter to give a reprieve to Rajasthan Royals batter Riyan Parag in the recently concluded 39th Indian Premier League 2022 match in Pune.

It all happened in the penultimate over of the first innings when Parag survived despite giving the most easiest of catches to Hasaranga at cover off Josh Hazlewood. In addition to the 20-year old batter scoring a career-best 56* (31), a second chance saw him hitting two fours and sixes each in the remainder of the innings.

“It [pitch] is pretty similar to the previous game [vs Mumbai Indians] we played, there is a little bit of inconsistent bounce. We gave 20 runs too many and the dropped catch cost us 25 [24]. 140 was a par score on that pitch,” du Plessis told Star Sports after his team failed to chase a 145-run target at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium.

Not mincing his words, du Plessis called for a need to sort their batting issues especially in the top-order. RCB losing key batters in the powerplay itself time and again has cost them dearly in IPL 2022.

“That [top-order batting] is the thing we need to fix. The basics of the game doesn’t change. You needed someone in the top four to bat through and we have not done it,” du Plessis said.

Faf du Plessis backs Virat Kohli to turn his IPL 2022 form around for RCB

While du Plessis is the highest run-scorer for Royal Challengers this season and fifth highest overall, a major source of concern for this team lies in the form of former captain Virat Kohli’s batting form.

Having registered a third consecutive single-digit score, Kohli further managed to extend his lean patch which has seen him without a century for over 100 innings across formats now. In nine IPL 2022 innings, Kohli has scored 128 runs at an average of 16 and a strike rate of 119.62.

Bangalore’s decision to open with Kohli and du Plessis might have failed tonight but the latter explained rationale behind doing the same. Furthermore, du Plessis backed Kohli to turn his form around for doing the same is a virtue of “great players”.

“We have to try to change the batting order and see if that works. That’s what we discussed after the last game, trying to get the best out of him [on Virat Kohli opening the batting].

“Great players go through phases like this. We wanted him to get in straightaway [and not bat at No. 3] so that he doesn’t sit on the sidelines and think about the game. He is a great player and we still back him to turn it around and hopefully it’s around the corner. It’s a game of confidence,” du Plessis mentioned.