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Following his fiery knock of 64 runs against Gujarat Titans (GT) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, former India cricketer Ajay Jadeja showered praise on Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) skipper Faf du Plessis for "operating at a different pace".
The RCB skipper played a 64-run knock from 23 balls at a strike rate of 278.26. He hammered 10 fours and 3 overhead boundaries on Saturday. Faf registered his half-century in just 18 balls, bringing up the second-fastest half-century for his franchise. The fastest half-century by an RCB batter came from Gayle back in 2013, who achieved the milestone in 17 balls against Pune Warriors India. While speaking to JioCinema, Jadeja said the Bengaluru-based franchise came into the game "differently" from the very start. The former cricketer also claimed he never saw RCB start a game with a six. "Today was outstanding... They came into the game differently from the start. I haven't checked the statistics, but I have never seen them start a game with a six. Not one, but two of them, in the first over, when there was no need. What Faf did, he was operating at a different pace. Later, there was some excitement in the match but at no point did it seem like this was (GT win) going to be successful," Jadeja said. Recapping the match, RCB elected to field first after winning the toss. GT was 19/3 at one point. Then, a 61-run partnership between Shahrukh Khan (37) and David Miller (30) helped GT make a brief comeback. RCB kept taking regular wickets and once again reduced GT to 87/5. Then, a 44-run partnership between Rahul Tewatia (35) and Rashid Khan (18) took GT beyond the 100-run mark. RCB bundled out GT for 147 runs in 19.3 overs. Yash Dayal (2/21), Vijaykumar Vyshak (2/23) and Mohammed Siraj (2/29) were among the top bowlers for RCB. Cameron Green and Karn Sharma took a wicket each. During the run chase, RCB started off brilliantly, with Faf Du Plessis (64) and Virat Kohli (42) putting up a 92-run stand. After that, RCB lost its way due to a fantastic spell from Joshua Little (4/45) and Noor Ahmed (2/23). However, Dinesh Karthik (21*) and Swapnil Singh (15*) guided the team to a four-wicket win with 38 balls left. (ANI)
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