Sports teams must lose together before they can win together, says AB de Villiers
Following yet another disappointing IPL season for RCB, AB de Villiers has stated that the players have to lose together to create a solid base before they go on to win. The South African has also heaped praise on the likes of Kane Williamson and MS Dhoni for leading their teams by example.
For all the talks of the brilliant balance in Royal Challengers Bangalore, the star-studded squad could only manage to win six matches this IPL season, out of the 14 that they have played so far. However, fans were even more disappointed after the side came agonizingly close to qualifying for the playoffs before getting ousted by a lackluster Rajasthan Royals side.
Their star player, de Villiers, who ended the campaign with 480 runs from 11 innings second only to Kohli's 530 from 14 games, however, has stated that the team needed to go through the rough patch first before they go on to eventually win the coveted trophy that has been evading them for 11 years now.
“So it's all doom and gloom in Bengaluru? No, not at all," he wrote. "We are extremely disappointed to have won only six of our 14 matches, but it is often said that sports teams must lose together before they can win together, and I do believe that, amid our underperformance in 2018, we have laid a solid foundation for 2019,” de Villiers wrote in his TOI column.
RCB players would be kicking themselves though, for throwing away the last game that could have seen them in the eliminator game now. Chasing a paltry target of 165 runs, RCB’s batting heavy squad collapsed for 134 runs, thereby losing the game by 30 runs. De Villiers recalled it where at 75/2, he was dismissed for 53 that went on to change the eventual outcome.
"We can have no complaints. It is frustrating to know we would have qualified if we had defeated Rajasthan Royals on Saturday, and at one stage we seemed to be on course for a successful chase, but their spinners halted our march and, in a few hectic overs, our dreams evaporated like the morning mist," de Villiers added.
The top four teams this season has been filled with improbable sides, who weren’t predicted to reach this stages. However, de Villiers has credited the captains of the sides, mainly of Sunrisers Hyderabad and Chennai Super Kings, for leading their teams to the playoffs.
"The IPL remains brilliantly unpredictable. However, if forced to make a prediction, I would not be surprised to see SRH, brilliantly led by Kane Williamson, play CSK in the final, and then for yet one more burst of MS Dhoni magic to propel the team in yellow to the title," wrote de Villiers.
0
0
0
0
0
0
Comments
Sign up or log in to your account to leave comments and reactions
0 Comments