Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Faf du Plessis revealed that he had thoughts of 'retiring out' in order to get designated finisher Dinesh Karthik at the crease early for providing finishing fireworks at the end of the innings against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Sunday.
In Bangalore's thumping 67-run win at the Wankhede Stadium, du Plessis top-scored with 73 but it was Karthik's sensational eight-ball 30, including three sixes and a four on the last four balls of the innings which propelled Bangalore to 192/3.
"If he (Dinesh Karthik) is hitting sixes like that, we want to get him in and bat as long as possible. He's just so clear. To be honest, I was actually trying to get out because I was so tired, to get DK in. We were even contemplating - myself 'retiring out'," du Plessis said.
"And then, we lost that wicket (Maxwell). DK is in such good form. It was a tricky wicket. A lot of guys, their first few balls, they struggled. Lucky for us, there was a drop catch of DK (final over) and he just took them apart," said du Plessis after the match.
In defence of a daunting 192, leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga ran through the Hyderabad batting, picking 5/18 in his four overs and took home 'Player of the Match' award. "Really happy for Wani, personally he was looking for that one match where he blows right through a batting line-up. He's been threatening with that right through the campaign, very happy that tonight was that night."
"He's obviously one of those special bowlers. If you're not picking him, especially once you get to the lower-order batters, he can run through you very quickly. Wani is doing exceptionally well. I am glad that I could play a role today in making sure that we can get some runs on the board," du Plessis said.
Though Bangalore lost Virat Kohli for a golden duck on the first ball of the innings, du Plessis stitched a 105-run stand with Rajat Patidar and had a fifty-run partnership with Glenn Maxwell, marking it one of those days where the top four contributed for a big total. Du Plessis explained that they are trying for one out of top four batters to get a good start and convert into a big score to avoid losing wickets in a heap during power-play.
"What we are trying to get better at as a team is making sure that one of those top-four creates a bit of a base. We have got some really strong hitters at the back. The games where we didn't do so well, there was a big cluster of wickets in the powerplay. Obviously some stability but at the same time you gonna make sure you don't go into defensive mode. You still want to try and take the right bowlers on at the right time."
Du Plessis signed off by praising Patidar for his 38-ball 48, which was crucial in getting the innings back on track after Kohli's early fall. "He (Rajat Patidar) has been a great addition, there are some fantastic young Indian batters within our set-up. Even someone like Suyash (Prabhudessai), he played three games and probably didn't go the way he would have liked to but there's some real talent there."
"Rajat comes in and just plays with that freedom, real cool, calm composure about him. That's always really good traits for a youngster to have. Mahipal (Lomror) is another young guy coming into the team, we are very lucky that we have got some real good Indian batting talent."
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