IPL 2018| Quinton de Kock to miss CSK encounter, AB de Villiers fit for a comeback

Saturday’s match between Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore in Pune will be a much-important affair for the visiting team to get one step closer to the playoff spots which looks practically possible at the moment. A win in today’s match can take Bangalore to the fifth position on the points table and the team has been boosted up by the comeback of their talismanic performer, AB de Villiers.

Making an announcement on the eve of the match, Bangalore’s head coach Daniel Vettori asserted that de Villiers has been declared fit to play against CSK while Quinton de Kock is going to miss the match as he has flown back to South Africa to attend a wedding ceremony. De Villiers couldn't participate in the last two matches due to viral fever, but his comeback will help the depleted franchise big-time.

“AB is fit. Quinton is away from this game. He has returned home for a wedding. He's unavailable for this match. Easy decision for us to make," Vettori told the reporters as quoted by Cricketnext.

The former New Zealand spinner especially lauded Colin De Grandhomme’s finishing skills in the match against Mumbai Indians where he scored 23 runs from 10 balls to take RCB to a defendable total.

“Colin (De Grandhomme) did a great job in the last game. I think the 20-odd runs he scored was the reason why we won the game. Really satisfied with how Colin has come into the team,” Vettori observed.

While the RCB top-order have failed to fire in unison, Mandeep Singh has come as a refreshing change and the way he batted in last few matches would surely please the team management. And understandably, Vettori is quite by happy. 

“Mandeep (Singh) has been consistent. Finishing plays a part when you don't do well at the top. We have done well at the top with the experienced four batsmen generally batting well," said Vettori when asked about RCB’s woes of not having a proper finisher.

The head coach was pleased with the performance of their bowlers in death overs against Mumbai Indians. Tim Southee and Mohammed Siraj bowled exceptionally well to contain the deadly duo of Pandya brothers when Mumbai was needing just 36 runs from final 3 overs.

"I think we got our combination right. (Tim) Southee has been exceptional, (Mohammad) Siraj has been improving and (Yuzvendra) Chahal and Umesh (Yadav) are tight as ever," Vettori concluded.