'Cannot Fake Confidence Into The Group..', Faf du Plessis Upbeat After Halting SRH's Winning Run

Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Faf du Plessis has said that one cannot fake confidence in a group and only performances can help them regain lost confidence. Rajat Patidar's 50 off 20 deliveries stood in stark contrast to Virat Kohli's measured 51 off 43 deliveries as Bangalore put up 206/7 after opting to bat. For a team that has breached the 250-run mark thrice season, the target was very gettable but the in-form Sunrisers Hyderabad batting line-up could not deliver on this occasion.

It was a much-needed result for Bangalore, who lost seven of their first eight matches. The defeat was Hyderabad's third in eight games.

Considering the effectiveness of the spinners in the first innings, Bangalore opened the bowling with part-time off-spinner Will Jacks. The Englishman had the destructive Travis Head (1 off 3) caught at third man to give Bangalore a huge boost.

"Last two games, we've shown great signs of fight. SRH game was 270 plus, we got 260. KKR game as well - 1 run. We've been close for a while, but you need to win matches to get confidence as a group. Will sleep easier tonight," Du Plessis said at the post-match presentation.

"You can't speak confidence into the group, can't fake confidence into the group. Only thing that gives confidence is performances," Du Plessis added.

While Kohli has been the top-scorer for Bangalore, the skipper is happy that the other batters are also getting back among runs.

"The competition is so strong, the teams are so strong that you'll get hurt if you're not at 100 percent. More guys are scoring runs now. First half of the tournament only Virat was scoring runs. Greeny scoring runs now will be massive for him," Du Plessis said.

Head's opening partner Abhishek Sharma (31 off 13) did entertain the home crowd until his attempted slog ended up in the hands of wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik.

Left-arm spinner Swapnil Singh, making his Bangalore debut, struck twice in his first over removing the dangerous South Africa duo of Aiden Markram and Henrich Klaasen. While Markram missed a full toss to be adjudged LBW, Klaasen was caught at mid-on after mistiming a lofted drive.

Leggie Karn Sharma then dismissed Nitish Reddy and Abdul Samad to shut the door on the opposition. Earlier, Patidar did the bulk of the work in his 65-run partnership with Kohli who was focused on giving the strike to his partner.

RCB next play the Gujarat Titans on Sunday, April 28 in Ahmedabad and will be looking to maintain the momentum.