Faf du Plessis plucks one in thin air to send Mitchell Santner back; Kohli couldn't hide excitement

Faf du Plessis pulled off a spectacular one-handed catch to dismiss Mitchell Santner during the RCB vs CSK IPL 2024 match. Santner made the right contact with the ball and it looked the certain boundary, but the RCB captain timed his jump to perfection to get hold of the airborne. Witnessing the brilliance of Faf from the boundary, an excited Virat Kohli charged toward Faf to celebrate the wicket.

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Faf du Plessis pulled off a spectacular catch to send Mitchell Santner back

Faf du Plessis' catch proved to be crucial as RCB qualified for the IPL 2024 playoffs by a margin of just 10 runs. Mitchell Santner, who in the past has showed that he is a capable batsman and could have made the difference, but RCB captain Faf du Plessis dampened the ideas. Here is the exceptional take from Faf du Plessis.

Upon watching Faf taking a brilliant catch, an ever animated Virat Kohli ran towards his captain to celebrate. 

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RCB beat CSK by 27 runs

Royal Challengers Bengaluru defeated defending champions Chennai Super Kings by 27 runs to secure the fourth and final play-off spot in the Indian Premier League here on Saturday. Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad had already qualified for the play-offs. Sent into bat, RCB posted a challenging 218 for five against CSK in their must-win. Skipper Faf du Plessis (54) and Virat Kohli (47) shared 78 runs for the opening stand in 9.4 overs after the match was interrupted by showers for sometime at the end of the third over. Coming onto bat at No.3 position, Rajat Patidar made 41 off 23 balls and stitched 71 runs with Cameron Green (38 not out off 17) for the second wicket to keep up the tempo. Towards the end, Dinesh Karthik (14 off 6) and Glenn Maxwell (16 off 5) played short little cameos to lift RCB. CSK needed 201 runs to qualify for the playoffs on account of a better run rate even if they lose, but could only manage 191 for 7. Rachin Ravindra scored 61 off 37 balls, while Ravindra Jadeja and Ajinkya Rahane made 42 not out and 33 respectively. Towards the end, the legendary Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who could have probably played his last IPL match, scored a 13-ball 25-run cameo. But it was not enough. Yash Dayal kept his cool in the last over and returned with figures of 2/42 for RCB.

(With PTI inputs)