This year Faf du Plessis is in a different league altogether: Aakash Chopra

The surface at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow for the 43rd match of the Indian Premier League was tailor-made for the bowlers to succeed but even so, RCB skipper Faf du Plessis played a brilliant knock of 44 runs off 40 deliveries to help his team post 126 runs on board after 20 overs.

Notably, Virat Kohli too looked in good touch as the 34-year-old hit 31 runs off 30 deliveries. The partnership between Kohli and Faf eventually decided the fate of the match and RCB went on to win the game by 18 runs.

Meanwhile, talking about du Plessis, former India batter Aakash Chopra stated that the 38-year-old is playing some phenomenal cricket in IPL 2023 and that he is in a different league altogether. He also picked him as the most valuable player of the match against LSG despite players like Naveen-ul-Haq, Amit Mishra, Karn Sharma and Josh Hazlewood doing well.

“Who was the most valuable player? The bowlers do well in any case when it is a low-scoring match. Naveen-ul-Haq was absolutely outstanding. He picked up three wickets. Ravi Bishnoi and Amit Mishra also picked up two wickets apiece. The rest of the spinners also picked up wickets,” Chopra stated in a video shared on his YouTube channel

“Karn Sharma and Josh Hazlewood were also there from RCB. So overall the bowlers were on top. So my most valuable player is Faf du Plessis. This year's Faf du Plessis is in a different league altogether - a league of his own,” the 45-year-old added.

Notably, in nine matches so far, the South Africa international has scored 466 runs and with that, he is the current holder of the IPL Orange Cap. On the other hand, courtesy of their terrific win against the KL Rahul-led side, RCB have moved to number five on the IPL points table while LSG remain at number three. Next up, the Faf du Plessis-led side will take on Delhi Capitals on May 6 while LSG will host CSK on May 3.