Twitter reactions: Faf du Plessis’ blazing innings in vain as Punjab beat Bangalore by 5 wickets

A magnificent batting performance from Punjab saw them make a mockery of a daunting 205 posted by Bangalore. The team got their Indian T20 League campaign off to a winning start as they defeated Bangalore by 5 wickets.

Bangalore were put in to bat by Mayank Agarwal. The team got off to a steady start with Faf du Plessis and Anuj Rawat adding 50 runs in 7 overs. Faf struggled in the initial half of his innings and was 17 off 30 balls at one point. However, he turned on the beast mode and raced to 88 off 57 balls. Virat Kohli also looked in sublime touch and scored 41 off 29 balls.

The target was a massive one but Punjab never looked in any trouble. The openers added 71 runs in 7 overs to set the platform for the chase. Mayank Agarwal (32), Shikhar Dhawan (43), Bhanuka Rajapaksa (43) and cameos from Shahrukh Khan (24) and Odean Smith (24) paved way for an easy win.

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