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Twitter reactions : Faf du Plessis sizzles but Punjab too good for Bangalore

The second game of the first doubleheader of the season was played between Punjab and Bangalore.

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Twitter reactions : Faf du Plessis sizzles but Punjab too good for Bangalore

Odean Smith (Image source: BCCI/IPL)

The second game of the first doubleheader of the season was played between Punjab and Bangalore. Both teams had entered the ITL with the intent of starting the campaign with a win. The game was played at DY. Patil Sports Academy in Mumbai. Punjab skipper Mayank Agarwal won the toss and elected to bowl first, keeping the dew factor in mind.

Bangalore opened the batting with their new skipper Faf du Plessis and uncapped Indian player Anuj Rawat. The duo stitched a partnership of 50 runs in seven overs before the latter was clean bowled by Rahul Chahar. The current skipper was joined by former skipper Virat Kohli at this stage of the innings. Both added 118 runs before the former was caught at long-off by a diving Shahrukh Khan.

Dinesh Karthik provided finishing touches with 32 not out off 14 balls, including three fours and as many sixes. Kohli stayed unbeaten at the other end with 41 off 29 with one four and two sixes. Punjab bowlers, apart from Arshdeep Singh and Rahul Chahar, bowled poorly. Notably, the duo picked one wicket each. The likes of Sandeep Sharma (9.25), Odean Smith (13), Harpreet Brar (12.66), and Liam Livingstone (14) bowled with high economy rates.

In reply, the Men In Red and Gold had a great start as their openers, Shikhar Dhawan and skipper Mayank Agarwal amassed 63 runs in the powerplay. Agarwal (32) was the first wicket to fall to Wanindu Hasaranga at a score of 71. Last year's Purple cap winner Harshal Patel accounted for Dhawan's (43) wicket. Debutant Bhanauka Rajapaksa scored a quick 43 runs in 22 balls before he was taken out by Mohammed Siraj. Next ball, Siraj account for young Raj Bawa, who was part of the India U19 team during the colts World Cup.

However, the late flourish from Odean Smith (25*off 8) and Shahrukh Khan (24*) ensured the team cross the line with one over left.

Here's what the skippers have to say-

Faf du Plessis | losing captain: I think the batting was really good. The catches towards the end.. Odean Smith 25 off 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 win watches. There was a bit of dew out there, 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. 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 chances. Even the other guy, Shahrukh Khan, didn't really nail it tonight until the last couple of balls. So 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.

Mayank: Two points for us is very important. Good wicket. Very good wicket as both sides scored 200 plus. One or two balls held up but nothing apart from that. Credit to the way we finished. We took the right chances and am glad it came off. I think we gave them 15-20 more. Virat and Faf took the game away from us but credit to our batters to chase this down. We trust our skills. It doesn't come off, it doesn't come off but we are not going to panic and make a scene out of it

This is how Twitter reacted

 

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