Chennai: Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper Virat Kohli lavished high praise on RCB’s ace batsman AB de Villiers after the South African hit 48 to help his team beat defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) by two wickets in the thrilling tournament-opener on Friday.
Talking about the De Villiers performance Kohli reckons De Villiers is a batsman who can bat on any wicket due to his versatility and he always intimidates the opposition whenever he is on field. On the first match De Villiers was taking the bowlers to the cleaners as he smashed 48 runs off 27 balls against the likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult.
“The opposition gets nervous about AB. We have depth in the batting which we want to utilize. AB is probably the only one in the team who is so versatile. And he does it on slow wickets what not many can do,” Kohli said at the most match press conference.
WE HAVE NO WORDS. 🤯🙏🏻#PlayBold #WeAreChallengers #MIvRCB #DareToDream pic.twitter.com/wcWa4DfYUi
— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) April 9, 2021
Harshal’s 5 for 27 was the reason RCB were able to restrict MI to 159 for nine in the IPL opener, which is something that even losing captain Rohit Shama admitted.
“We brought Harshal in a trade from Delhi. He is relishing the responsibility and is clear with his plans. He was the difference today. He is going to be our death bowler. As a captain you want players with clarity, and he has that,” Kohli added.
The Virat Kohli-led side will play their second match against the David Warner-led Sun Risers Hyderabad (SRH) side on 14th April 2021.
