Punjab Kings started their IPL 2022 journey with a thumping win over Faf du Plessis-led Royal Challengers Bangalore by 5 wickets.
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Punjab Kings started their IPL 2022 journey with a thumping win over Faf du Plessis-led Royal Challengers Bangalore by 5 wickets. Punjab Kings won the toss and opted to bowl first. Newly-appointed captain Faf du Plessis got off to a flying start as he smashed 88 runs. Apart from him, Virat Kohli and Dinesh Karthik too scored well and took the team to 205 in 20 overs.
While chasing, Mayank Agarwal and Shikhar Dhawan both added 71 runs within 8 overs. Later, Bhanuka Rajapaksa smashed 4 sixes and Odean Smith also played a blitzy knock of 8-ball 25 with 3 sixes as well and took the team home with one over in hand.
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Odean Smith, who earned the ‘Man of the Match’ said: “We were stressing on having a good start. We just needed to have that belief. Didn’t go so well with the bowling. I need to work on a few things. Batting was good as I helped my team to win. It was all about execution and I couldn’t and that’s why it went haywire. Punjab hasn’t won the title so far but we need to have the belief. We watched ’14 peaks’, 13 remain for us.”
On the other hand, Faf du Plessis has said, “I think the batting was really good. The catches towards the end. Odean Smith 25 off 8 balls. I think we probably dropped him on 10. After that, we are looking at some tailenders coming in. The cliche of catches wins watches. There was a bit of dew out there, a tough night for the bowlers, but I thought they were pretty decent with the wet ball. Small margins, but they chased it down really well. They had a really good powerplay. The ball skidded on a bit more in the second innings and then we pulled it back beautifully.”
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“We did a lot of good things in the middle. But you know what Odean Smith can do to you. So you got to hold on to those changes. Even the other guy, Shahrukh Khan, didn’t really nail it tonight until the last couple of balls. So a completely different game if you hold on to those chances. I am tired! That First innings running, ohh (smiles). I am just glad I got away without injuring myself because I spent so much time on my elbows diving. It was tough to start with the bat today. The first four overs the ball was swinging, I was 1 off 10 I guess. Clutching the bat a bit hard but pleasing to get through it,” Faf du Plessis concluded.
