IPL 2019 | We are turning things around now, says AB de Villiers
AB de Villiers has stated that Royal Challengers Bangalore are finally starting to turn things around after the side's fourth win in the last five matches. In Wednesday’s encounter against Kings XI Punjab, RCB scored in excess of 200 and managed to win the game by a margin of 17 runs.
Royal Challengers Bangalore were put to bat by Kings XI Punjab and the batting once again seemed to collapse after a good start. However, AB de Villiers came to the side’s rescue smacking 82 runs in 44 balls and helping the side to post a target of 202.Â
RCB’s first big blow came with Virat Kohli’s wicket on the first ball of the third over with the scoreboard showing only 35 runs, which was followed by a wicket each in the seventh, eighth and the ninth over. RCB were in a tough spot before Marcus Stoinis, who ended up with 46 off 34 deliveries, and De Villiers remained unbeaten till the end.
The KXIP spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin, who only gave 15 runs in his quota of four over, and Murugan Ashwin were phenomenal, but the pacers Mohammed Shami, Hardus Viljoen, and Ankit Rajpoot were all over the place conceding a whopping 150 runs together. On the other hand, Umesh Yadav and Navdeep Saini gave away 36 and 33 runs respectively in their quota of four overs, which made a huge difference.
“I tried to stay calm in the last few overs. It is not easy always, the game is happening at a rapid pace. We know our home ground very well, it hasn't been a great hunting ground for us to start with but we are turning things around now. And we are doing things well now. We are doing good as a team now. I still think 160 was a par score but it gets easier in the second innings. Our bowlers executed their plans to perfection in the end,” he said, at the post-match presentation ceremony, reported Cricbuzz.
The Bengaluru-based franchise started their campaign horribly with six losses on the trot as their bowling looked completely out of sorts amidst an under par batting display, but their main culprit was sloppy fielding. Barring the latter, the Kohli-led side has been phenomenal in the other two departments in the last five matches and has seen consistent wins putting them at the seventh spot on the points table. This would be keeping their hopes of a playoff berth still alive although the chances of qualification are extremely slim. And the skipper reiterated that the side is having fun and want to continue the same.
“We won four out of the last five we have played, it could have been five out of five. We are just looking to enjoy our cricket. Tonight was another example of having fun. The partnership of ABD and Stoinis changed the match for us. At one stage we thought 175 was good but AB and Marcus got us past 200. The way they played was the deciding factor. Our only focus was to play good as a team, we know that we are a good side, losing six in a row hurt all of us," said Kohli.
"That big break before Mohali helped us. It is important that we don't take any pressure. We just need to play how the world knows we can play. When two left-handers came in, we got a lot of dot balls and that was a crucial factor for us. Having 6-7 bowling options is a luxury for any team. I can pick and choose who is bowling well. Marcus brings in a lot of balance to our team. It was an outstanding effort by the bowlers today,” he added.
RCB will next on Delhi Capitals at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Sunday’s first game.
