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IPl 2018: It's nice to contribute to team's win: Faf du Plessis

Faf du Plessis is an elated man after helping Chennai Super Kings beat Sunrisers Hyderbad and enter the IPL final with an unbeaten 67

Faf du Plessis made a match-winning unbeaten 67 for Chennai Super Kings against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL Qualifier 1

Mumbai, May 23: Faf du Plessis on Tuesday (May 22) expressed his happiness for being able to contribute to a Chennai Super Kings' win in the crucial IPL Qualifier 1 at the Wankhede Stadium here.

"It's nice to contribute since I haven't played much. 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?," said Du Plessis after the match that CSK won by two wickets after regular match-winners like Dhoni failed.

The South African captain heaped praise on teammate Shardul Thakur for hitting some boundaries that eased the pressure on him and the team and Sunrisers Hyderabad leg-spinner Rashid Khan, who bowled an excellent spell in the middle overs.

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"Sometimes the game seems out of reach, but you keep sticking in. But Shardul 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," said Du Plessis.

Du Plessis made an unbeaten 67 off 42 balls to carry Super Kings past the target of 140 with five balls to spare.

Shardul Thakur, who also made an equally vital unbeaten 15 off five balls with three boundaries, said it was a pleasant experience for him to be able to contribute the team's cause with the bat.

"It was good and it was important for me to give some runs so that Faf could finish it. I always told my coaches that I want to finish the game with the bat, and today I had the opportunity. MS said 'pick your balls', and Faf told meto take single off the last ball, but I found the boundary. People are here to see entertainment and they got some. You have to believe, always," said Thakur.

Sunrisers Hyderabad will now travel to Kolkata for the Qualifier 2, a match in which they will face the Eliminator winner - either Rajasthan Royals or Kolkata Knight Riders. Sunrisers skipper Kane Williamson said they made a few runs short against Chennai Super Kings.

"Trip to Kolkata for us now. We were too short with the bat, and it was actually a decent surface. We would've wanted 20 more. The game did swing our way, and bowlers were outstanding, but we didn't quite execute it like in the past. Hopefully we can cross the line in Kolkata and come back here. We do back our death bowlers, but it wasn't to be today.

"Credit to CSK's lower-order. It's important that we learn from this and take it to our next match. Faf du Plessis played a beautiful knock, and credit to the way they scrapped it. We got a bit of hard work to do, but we'll do it one over at a time," said Williamson.

Story first published: Wednesday, May 23, 2018, 0:43 [IST]
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