IPL 2019 | Quitting international cricket has kept me energetic, believes AB de Villiers

De Villiers announced his retirement on May 2018 and has played in four T20 tournaments - the Mzansi Super League, the Bangladesh Premier League, the Pakistan Super League, and the IPL. Among those 28 innings, the former South African skipper has eight single-digit scores and ahead of this IPL, he had only four fifty-plus scores to his name. But he came back with a refreshing mindset and played a fine innings last night to give RCB their much-needed win and AB puts down the fact to the extra space that he has in his life now.

"That's [being sharp's] exactly the reason why I decided not to play international cricket, it's to be as sharp as I can in other forms of the game around the world. I can't keep playing 10-11 months a year and keep being sharp after 15 years of international cricket. This kind of tournament, I'm playing every now and then, every 2-3 months. really keeps me energetic. I get to work with university guys back home. With some of the local guys and local youngsters, which really gives me the energy and really motivates me to be better for some of the youngsters back home and be an example for them," de Villiers said in the post-match conversation with Murali Karthik.

De Villiers was truly at his best against Punjab and scored an unbeaten 59, which was his third fifty in seven games this season. Excluding that, de Villiers has failed to get past 20 in four games, which eventually added pressure on RCB batting line-up. De Villiers admitted that although he had got himself out a couple of times without converting, he earned a lot of respect from the game not to be worried about the same.

"I've got too much respect for the game to be upset about that. Obviously, I want to be there at the end every time, winning games for the team. I've hit the ball well, I've got in many times, and I just haven't gotten far on a few occasions. But as I said, I've got too much respect for the game of cricket to get ahead of myself and get too hard on myself. You're always just one knock away of from being in that confidence zone and hopefully, I'll maintain this kind of form throughout the tournament now."

After Nathan Coulter-Nile pulled himself out of the tournament with an injury, Royal Challengers Bangalore signed Dale Steyn. AB is excited to partner with his long-time comrade, and with whom, he made his Test debut for South Africa.

"I think it was a fantastic move to get Dale involved. We all know what he's capable of. One thing is for sure, you'll get 200 percent from him. He'll give his absolute best every single time he bowls for the team and it's just going to be great to have a guy of that caliber and another great human being in our team.

"Yes, we know what we have to do now - we have to win a lot of games of cricket, but the next step is Mumbai, at the Wankhede stadium. We love playing cricket there. We'll have to do our basics and bowl it up like we did today and hopefully more success is around the corner."