IPL 2018| Du Plessis reveals excitement in dressing room after match-winning innings
Faf du Plessis, who played an absolute masterclass to take CSK for a final appearance, has expressed his excitement over the win and looked surprised when he reached the dressing room. The South-African captain also added that as a team, they are very happy to cross the line on the first attempt.
Faf du Plessis used all his experience and returned back to form with a match-winning knock to carry Chennai Super Kings to the final of the 2018 Indian Premier League on Tuesday (May 22). Du Plessis, who couldnāt impress with the willow in the ongoing IPL,Ā displayed his quality when it mattered the most with a superb 67 not out off only 42 balls against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Wankhede Stadium.
Talking about his innings at the post-match presentation interview, Faf recalled some of his best innings that he played in Wankhede and took the confidence from those innings. Further adding to his interview, he mentioned that how much he looked surprised when he reached the change room, after winning the match.
"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?'," said du Plessis, as reported by India Today.
At one point, CSK were reduced to 92/7 in 15 overs in reply to Sunrisers Hyderabad's 139/7. But the South African captain put two superb partnerships with Harbhajan Singh and Shardul Thakur to make sure his team toĀ get past the line.
With 43 needed off the last three overs, du Plessis, who opened the batting, launched into Carlos Brathwaite in the 18th over, smashing him for 20 runs which included two sixes and two fours. Siddarth Kaul, bowling the 19th over, shelled away as many as 17 runs from that over as No. 10 Shardul Thakur (15 off 5 balls) got three boundaries. Then it was du Plessis, who finished the match with a six off Bhuvneshwar Kumar on the first ball of the 20th over.
Talking about the match scenario, when regular wickets were falling from one end, du Plessis observed that though the game was slipping away from CSK hands, a batsman was needed to show the courage to oppose those situations.
"Sometimes the game seems out of reach, but you keep sticking in. But Shardul came in and hit some boundaries, and everything went our way. Rashid was a real handful, so just happy to cross the line," du Plessis noticed.
