Karthik's calm approach and innings of character was the key: RCB skipper Faf du Plessis

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper Faf du Plessis attributed his team's win over Rajasthan Royals (RR) from a near-hopeless situation to Dinesh Karthik's calm approach and the innings of character that he played at the Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday night.

Chasing RR's 169, RCB were 4/62 at one stage, which became 5/87 soon, but Karthik's unbeaten 44 off 23 deliveries and an equally belligerent 45 from Shahbaz Ahmed saw the Bengaluru franchise win by four wickets with five balls to spare.

Du Plessis gave RCB a solid start with a 20-ball 29, but two of their former players -- Yuzvendra Chahal and Navdeep Saini -- wrecked havoc and had the Bengaluru outfit on the mat. However, the batting master-class from Shahbaz and Karthik made the impossible happen.

Du Plessis was effusive in his praise of Karthik, saying the wicketkeeper-batter had pulled a rabbit out of the hat.

"That's one out of the hat. To pull it out of nowhere you need some good characters, and DK (Dinesh Karthik) is as big a character as you can get. That calmness towards the end allows others to just come in," said du Plessis.

The South African added that Jos Buttler's (70 not out off 47 balls) last-over belligerence had made the chase difficult for RCB.