Which current Royal Challengers Bengaluru player was the first to take two consecutive five-wicket hauls in T20s? Ahead of their first home match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) season against Punjab Kings (PBKS) on Monday, this intriguing question on RCB Bold Diaries left the entire squad stumped, except the man who had done it.
When asked this question, Virat Kohli said, “Was it Lockie?” while Lockie Ferguson and Glenn Maxwell both went for Karn Sharma’s name. Mohammed Siraj wondered if it was Wanindu Hasaranga while Akash Deep thought it could be Harshal Patel. Mahipal Lomror settled for Siraj as his guess, and Rajat Patidar offered Adam Zampa as his answer. Some of the others chose Anil Kumble and Yuzvendra Chahal, with Dinesh Karthik mulling over Himanshu Sharma’s name.
The query was posed to captain Faf du Plessis too, who first asked, “Domestic or international?”, before pondering over the right answer. “I was going to say Faf du Plessis,” du Plessis said. “Is that correct?”
It was indeed the correct answer, as du Plessis had achieved the feat back in the years 2011 and 2012 when he claimed 5/19 and 5/28 on the South African domestic circuit with his leg-spin skills, as per a press release from RCB.
In fact, du Plessis’ second five-wicket haul comprised players all of whom represented South Africa – Quinton de Kock, Neil McKenzie, Dwaine Pretorius, Chris Morris and Thami Tsolekile. And apart from de Kock, who was out caught, all the others were bowled by du Plessis.
When told that it was the skipper who had achieved this feat, Kohli exclaimed, “Who bowls leg-spin? Faf? What!” Karthik was surprised as well. “Faf, I never expected you to do that!” Karthik said.
The RCB captain has even picked up two ODI wickets and has a pretty handy bowling record across first-class, List A and T20 cricket. He has claimed 50 wickets in T20s at a healthy average of 18.34 and a solid economy rate of 6.96.
“I cannot believe he is not bowling now, and making the rest of us try and bowl,” remarked Maxwell.
It is up to the skipper now to decide as RCB prepare to take on the Punjab in their first home game of the season at Chinnaswamy Stadium on Monday. They registered a loss to Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in their campaign opener on Friday.
