Two stand-in captains, Virat Kohli, and Sam Curran, came as the Royal Challengers Bangalore took on the Punjab Kings in an Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 encounter on Thursday. Shikhar Dhawan, who missed his team’s second straight game, was replaced as captain by Curran while Kohli filled in for an injured Faf du Plessis. After Curran decided to bowl first after winning the toss, Kohli was questioned about why he was wearing the captain’s hat instead of Du Plessis.
Du Plessis won’t be able to play in the field due to a rib injury, according to Kohli. The team management decided to play him as an “Impact Player” as a result.
Kohli said at the toss time
“Faf potentially can’t be fielding today, so he’ll be playing as an impact player, switching with Vyshak. We got to do what we wanted, we would have batted first, the pitch could get slow, and some scruff marks will help the bowlers going deep into the game. Taking one game at a time, focusing on our own game, make the most of crunch situations, we haven’t done that so far in the tournament. No other changes for us,” Kohli revealed at the time of the toss.
Faf really have a massive impact on the match as he scored 84 off 56 balls. He has surpassed 300 runs in the tournament and is the Orange Cap Holder in this edition of the IPL. Punjab Kings were defeated by Royal Challengers Bangalore by 24 runs; RCB scored 174/4 in their 20 overs while holding PBKS to 150. Prabhsimran Singh scored 46 runs, Jitesh Sharma scored 41 runs, and Mohammed Siraj claimed four wickets, but it was in naught as RCB won their third game of IPL 2023.
Faf du Plessis struck 84 off 56 balls for Royal Challengers Bangalore, while Virat Kohli added 59 off 47 for them to achieve a total of 174/4 against Punjab Kings in 20 overs.
Faf while talking during the sideline interview told the extent of his injury. He said that he was able to play in this match due to the rule of ‘Impact Player’ otherwise, he couldn’t have featured in today’s game.
Faf Said
“Felt some pain around the rib region when I dived over a couple of matches back. Since it was to my right side, I felt I could bat, if not for the new rules, it would have been impossible for me to feature today. Feel I can be back on the field in the next game.”
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