Royal Challengers Bengaluru skipper Faf du Plessis was a relieved man after his team snapped a six-game losing streak with a 35-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL in Hyderabad on Thursday. (As It Happened | Scorecard)
"Last two games, we've shown great signs of fight. SRH game was 270 plus, and we got 260. KKR game as well - 1 run. We've been close for a while, but you need to win matches to get confidence as a group. Will sleep easier tonight.
"You can't speak confidence into the group, can't fake confidence into the group. The only thing that gives confidence is performances," he said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
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While Virat Kohli has been the top-scorer for them, Du Plessis is happy that other batters are too getting back amongst runs.
"The competition is so strong, the teams are so strong that you'll get hurt if you're not at 100 per cent. More guys are scoring runs now. First half of the tournament only Virat was scoring runs. Greeny scoring runs now will be massive for him."
Chasing 207, SRH's ultra-aggressive approach with the bat backfired as they were 69-5 in the 8th over and couldn't recover thereafter.
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"Not an ideal night. Few over par with the ball and unfortunately lost a few wickets throughout our innings. We were gonna bat first, it seems to be working for us. Before the last few wins, we were thinking that we were a bowl-first team," Pat Cummins, SRH captain, said.
"The boys have been doing really well, it's T20 cricket, you are not going to win every game. Don't dwell on this too much."
Taking about their high-risk and high-reward approach with the bat, Cummins said: "I think it's our strong suit. It's not going to work every game. In one or two games where it hasn't gone our way at the start, we still managed to get a good total. Still think this is the way forward for our boys."
