Even though Faf du Plessis has been in incredible form with the bat for the Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL 2023, he hasn't been available as a captain in the team's most recent appearances. This is because of the rib injury owing to which he has not been deemed fit to field. However, the Impact Player rule suggests he could still be used as a batter. The same was repeated in RCB's home fixture against the Kolkata Knight Riders on Wednesday.
In Du Plessis' absence, it is Virat Kohli who has been leading the franchise. Kohli had given up the captaincy himself but had to step in when he was informed about the fitness concern of his South African teammate. At the toss in the match against Kolkata, when the 34-year-old was asked about an update on Du Plessis' injury, Kohli said that he was hopeful of the regular skipper's return for their next match against the Lucknow Super Giants.
"We have decided to bowl first. Obviously, it's a no brainer. Evening game at Chinnaswamy, we've chased well here. So chance to put the batsmen under pressure with the new ball. Our powerplay bowling has been unbelievable. So just another chance to do the same things that we have done really well in the last couple of games. It was unexpected but nothing I'm not used to (stand-in captaincy). It's been fun so far because of the way the team has been playing. Faf will be playing the impact role again. Hopefully he'll be back leading from the next game. Looks like a great pitch, the usual Chinnaswamy pitch that we expect," Kohli told Ravi Shastri at the toss.
After opting to bowl first, Bangalore conceded 200/5 in the first innings and need 201 runs at the M Chinnaswamy Stadim to complete a hat-trick of wins and go to 10 points.