IPL 2018: Faf du Plessis in shock after CSK’s unexpected victory

The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) stormed to their seventh final of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The franchise beat the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the iconic Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai by two wickets. Faf du Plessis played a masterful hand of 67 runs 42 balls to guide his team home in the Qualifier of the prestigious tournament. He opened the batting and played the winning shot off Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

The Sunrisers got themselves up to 139 runs courtesy of Carlos Braithwaite’s knock of 43 runs off 29 balls. During the run-chase, CSK lost wickets in heaps and found themselves in shambles with the score reading 62/6 in 12.3 overs. With 78 runs needed from 45 balls, the match was for Chennai to win. However, du Plessis didn’t let the situation unnerve him and shepherded his team past the finishing line.

“How did we win this”- du Plessis

The 33-year old cricketer also talked about the scenario in the dressing room after the victory. “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?’” du Plessis was quoted as saying in the post-match presentation ceremony.

Rashid Khan was Sunrisers’ standout bowler with figures of 4-0-11-2. He nipped out the prized scalps of MS Dhoni and Dwayne Bravo. Dhoni was foxed by a ripper of a wrong’un, which sneaked through his bat and pad to cannon into the timber. Rashid dismissed Bravo with a half-tracker. Du Plessis, during his chat, also praised the Afghan spinner and iterated the importance of not dropping the gun at any stage.

“Sometimes the game seems out of reach, but you keep sticking in. But Shardul (Thakur) came in and hit some boundaries, and everything went our way. Rashid was a real handful, so just happy to cross the line. Rashid was tough to pick, so hard to take him on. So try to get through him as much as you can,” the South African cricketer added.

Here is CSK’s full squad

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