Faf: How did we win this, guys?
MUMBAI: Faf du Plessis scored an unbeaten 67 off 42 balls to carry Chennai Super Kings past Sunrisers Hyderabad and into their seventh IPL final despite being suspended for two of the 11 editions.
Du Plessis arrived on the crease after a brilliant spell from Rashid Khan had sent MS Dhoni and Dwayne Bravo packing. The Afghan spinner went on to concede just 11 runs from his four overs.
The South African middle order batsman, who had scored just 85 runs from four innings before the Qualifier on Tuesday, said that he took strength from his previous performances in the IPL.
Acknowledging the bowler’s devastating spell du Plessis also admitted that the key to his success on Tuesday was to see off Rashid.
“It’s nice to contribute since I haven’t played much. Yesterday, I was just reflecting on my past games, and took some confidence from that mentally. I just entered the changing room now, and asked the boys, ‘how did we win this, guys?’” Du Plessis said at the post-match presentation.
“Sometimes the game seems out of reach, but you keep sticking in. But Shardul (Thakur) came in and hit some boundaries, and everything went our way. Rashid was a real handful, so just happy to cross the line. Rashid was tough to pick, so hard to take him on. So try to get through him as much as you can.”
Du Plessis further praised Rashid, calling him the best leg spinner in the world and warning prospective rivals of his potential to single handedly win matches.
“Rashid’s the best legspinner in the world. He’s going to pose a lot of challenges when he comes to Test cricket. He will win you games on his own, and that’s why you have to respect his bowling. We watch a lot of footage, but he’s still so hard to pick,” Du Plessis said in a separate interview with Star Sports.
“Me, personally, in that situation, I felt that I needed to take all the risk against Carlos. His slower ball is not that much different than his (normal) pace. So even if he does (bowl a slower one), you can trust your (bat-) swing, so that’s what I was hoping for. And that’s the over we both targeted. And Shardul came in there and just smoked a few towards the end,” du Plessis said.
Tests
ODIS
T20s
Total
M114
228
78
420