Royal Challengers Bangalore, Mumbai Indians
AB de Villiers smoked a match-winning 48 [Image-IPLT20]

Former Royal Challengers Bangalore captain and coach Daniel Vettori has reckoned that sending AB de Villiers to lower down the order was a wrong move and that he is too good a player to bat at the No.5 spot.

With Washington Sundar opening the innings alongside Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar and Glenn Maxwell were sent in ahead of AB de Villiers.

Maxwell played a brilliant cameo of 28-ball 39 but in the end, it all boiled down to AB de Villers after RCB suffered a horrendous collapse in the middle-overs.

AB, however, showed his class once again as he smoked a whirlwind 27-ball 48 and although he got run out in the last over, he had already paved way for an RCB win.

“We have talked so many times about how RCB relies on either AB de Villiers or Virat Kohli. They got a little cameo from (Glenn) Maxwell as well. But in the end, it was De Villiers again who showed his class. They put him down to No. 5, which is pretty low for a player of his quality. But they got the result they wanted because of his ability and his maturity to get them through. It was a wonderful inning. Apart from him and Maxwell, no one really looked fluent at all for RCB throughout the innings.” said Daniel Vettori on ESPNCricinfo.

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AB de Villiers, Daniel Vettori
AB de Villiers (Image Credit: IPL)

Reflecting on the match, AB de Villiers described it as another ‘incredible’ game of cricket against the Mumbai Indians.

The champion batsman reckoned that the pitch got harder to bat on as the game progressed. He also complemented Mumbai Indians’ bowlers for putting them under pressure.

“It was an incredible game of cricket, always seems to be against Mumbai. We obviously came in knowing it wasn’t going to be easy. I knew halfway it was going to get tough. It’s one of those pitches that gets harder as the game goes on. They have a wonderful bowling lineup that put us under pressure,” De Villiers said. 

Reflecting on his run-out in the final over, AB de Villiers said:

“There was an easy two in my opinion, but as I started it felt like I was running backwards. Krunal got it spot on with the throw.”

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