IPL 2021 | Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers have a huge challenge ahead of IPL second leg, reckons Gautam Gambhir

The Royal Challengers Bangalore endured a fine start of the season, winning five wins from the first seven games during the India leg earlier this year. The Virat Kohli led outfit, who finished fourth last season, are currently placed third in the IPL 2021 points table.

Gautam Gambhir believes that Kohli and AB de Villiers, the team's two most experienced batsmen will have to adjust quickly, having not played any T20 cricket in recent times.

“There’s going to be a challenge for Virat and there's going to be a huge challenge for AB de Villiers as well because he will be coming into the tournament without playing any cricket at all. Virat Kohli will have to adjust really quickly because there'll be hardly any time for him to get used to it,” Gambhir said on the Star Sports show ‘Game Plan’.

The former Kolkata Knight Riders captain further stated that the duo needed to score quickly and consistently if RCB are to make to the play-offs and win the title. Kohli aggregated 198 runs at 33 from seven matches during the first leg of the IPL, while de Villiers returned with 27 at 51.75.

“From the five-Test-match series to the T20 format, and AB as well, because these guys need to get runs if they have to have a chance to first qualify for the playoffs and then probably go on to win the title,” he added.

Gambhir also expressed his views on Punjab Kings skipper KL Rahul, who he feels hasn't quite been at his best yet. Rahul aggregated 331 runs at 66.2 from seven matches during the first leg of the IPL in India.

“We haven’t seen the best of KL Rahul. Yes, he has got runs, but we still haven't seen, what he can achieve in his batting,” Gambhir felt. “You could have a season like Virat Kohli had once. He's that kind of a player in white-ball cricket, where he can get 2-3 hundreds in a season and at a very good strike-rate as well.”

The IPL 14 will resume on Sunday, September 19 with Mumbai Indians taking on the Chennai Super Kings in Dubai. RCB will play KKR the following day in Abu Dhabi.