Whistling a tune and awaiting queries, A.B. de Villiers offered a remarkable contrast to the menacing six-hitting role that he donned in the Super Over against Delhi Daredevils here in a recent IPL match. One of Royal Challengers Bangalore’s key players, de Villiers spoke to the media here on Thursday about issues ranging from the Super Over to Virat Kohli’s captaincy skills.
Excerpts:
Super Over heroics: The other night I just got four balls and if I had not scored more than 10 runs we definitely would have lost. That kind of pressure is unfair. I hadn’t hit any balls before and my eye was not in. Normally I take about 10 balls to stay calm and then accelerate. In the Super Over you don’t have that time and to play big shots does get a bit difficult and luckily for me it came off (against Delhi Daredevils).
Kohli, the captain: He has been brilliant. Obviously he is very young and inexperienced, having said that, he has made some really positive moves. He will become a world class captain and he is already showing signs of that.
Leadership and stress: It is quite draining to give that much energy to the guys and you need a lot of rest in between. You need to get away from the game when you have the opportunity and I am sure Virat will need to do that as well. That’s what I try and do — keep a balance between being (South Africa’s limited-over) captain and trying to get away from the game.
Not keeping wickets: I have kept a lot this year and got a bit of a fragile back and it is nice to be in the field for a change.
Arun Karthik (RCB’s current wicketkeeper) has performed well for us in the past. He has won us a game or two before and we are expecting big things again from him.
RCB and the missing trophy: So far the close situations and the key moments have gone our way.
I can see a massive improvement especially in the bowling department, collectively we are playing a lot better and if things go our way, we could very well win the trophy this year.
