IPL 2020 | AB de Villiers is a freak, greatest of all-time, claims Simon Katich
RCB have been on a roll in IPL 2020 and they continued their good run with win over RR headlined by AB de Villiers, whom RCB head coach Simon Katich termed a freak and also the greatest of all-time. AB de Villiers powered RCB to a victory from the jaws of defeat with his 22-ball-55 on Saturday.
AB de Villiers is touted as the finest all-format batsman of the generation. Even after his international retirement, he has continued to sparkle and was at his best again versus Rajasthan Royals on Saturday in Dubai, where his death batting masterclass helped RCB hunt down 178 as he smashed an unbeaten 55 off 22 with six sixes, four of which came in the last two overs, with a hat-trick of them coming against Unadkat in the 19th over where RCB looted 25 runs.
Speaking in the post-match press conference, RCB head coach, Simon Katich heaped praises on the South African batter and stated that it was yet another masterclass by him, which have been aplenty this IPL. He also termed him "the greatest of all time."
“He (AB de Villiers) is a freak, isn’t he? That’s why he is the greatest of all time. What we saw was another masterclass, we have seen a number of them already in this tournament.
“He had one here against Mumbai, and obviously the other day he got 73 off 33,” Katich said during the press conference.
RCB had stunned one and all with their tactics against Kings XI Punjab, where AB de Villiers was demoted to no.6 position coming below Washington Sundar and Shivam Dube just after he had made a sublime 33-ball-73 against Kolkata Knight Riders at the same venue. But this time, the Reds corrected the wrong as Katich admitted the team's goof-up with his batting position. He also credited Chris Morris, who ended with four wickets, and Chahal, who had taken out Robin Uthappa and Sanju Samson off consecutive deliveries.
“We certainly made sure that he bats in his right position today. We certainly learnt from our mistake and he was wonderful.
“The reason we won was I think he was magnificent, Chris Morris was brilliant, (Yuzvendra Chahal) got us back in the game with his two wickets, we had a number of crucial performances but AB basically won us the game single-handedly. Looked like Rajasthan deserved to win and we got out of jail really.”