IPL 2021: AB de Villiers Is The Best In The Business In The Backend Of An Innings - RCB Head Coach Simon Katich

Simon Katich, Royal Challengers Bangalore head coach, lavished praise on the maverick batsman AB de Villiers who was amongst runs once again when he smashed 76 runs off 34 balls against Kolkata Knight Riders on Sunday in Chennai.

Simon Katich hails de Villiers as the “best in the business” while batting in the death overs. The former South Africa skipper, in the IPL, strikes at 233.97 in the death overs, according to ESPNcricinfo – he did the same in the first match of the season as well against Mumbai Indians, dragging RCB to the door of victory.

“We know that ABD is the best in the business in the backend and we have seen here in Chennai, a lot of teams have struggled at the backend and that is something we have done really well in these three games on the back of him and Maxwell. That can be the difference between winning and losing games,” Simon Katich said in a video posted on the official Twitter handle of RCB.

We were treated to two masterclasses from Maxwell and ABD: Simon Katich

Simon Katich gushed in praise for Glenn Maxwell as well along with de Villiers. Maxwell came to bat when RCB had lost two wickets – Virat Kohli and Rajat Patidar – for the score of 9 runs in the second over. However, the Australian wasn’t intimidated by the bowlers, or the pitch, and launched a counter-attack on the KKR bowlers.

By the time he got out, after clobbering 78 runs off 49 deliveries, he has put his side in a strong position and provided a base for AB to explode. Simon Katich also lauded Devdutt Padikkal’s knock of 25 runs from 28 balls, saying that he provided the support to Maxwell.

Virat Kohli’s side leaves Chennai as the table topper and travels to Mumbai; they face Sanju Samson’s Rajasthan Royals on Thursday.

“Boys were magnificent today, we had a tough start but the way he fought back with that partnership between Glenn Maxwell and Devdutt Padikkal got us into a position there from where we could get the score we got. At 9/2, no one would have thought we would score above 200.

“Maxwell and Padikkal deserve a lot of credit for setting up the platform and then AB, that was special knock as well.

“In terms of T20 batting, we were treated to two masterclasses from Maxwell and ABD. Young Padikkal’s innings should not go unmentioned because that partnership between him and Maxwell gave us momentum in the innings and it put pressure on KKR,” the former Australia opener stated.

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