AB De Villiers rolled back the years against Mumbai Indians in the IPL 2021 season opener for Royal Challengers Bangalore. The Proteas legend began the campaign on a superb note and played a match-winning knock of 49 runs that helped RCB get past the finishing line in the end.
When asked about how AB De Villiers manages to do the unthinkable year after year in the Indian Premier League, he remained rational in his answer and highlights the obvious risks when tasked with leading the run-chase in the middle overs.
“It’s not always very enjoyable. I try and play the situations that I am confronted with, in the best possible way, sounds pretty simple. But the fact of the matter is that when you bat in the middle order, the situation changes every time. It’s a matter of adapting and trying to make most of it…It comes off more often than not,” the Proteas legend told RCB ‘Bold Diaries’.
He added that there are days when he will inevitably fail but it’s the ‘fear of failure’ that pushes him to do better.
“But you always know that it’s possible that you are going to fail. Fear of failure always pushes me to focus more on the ball and do basics better. Try and get a start. It is important to start the first 20 balls well,” AB de Villiers said.
AB De Villiers retired from international cricket a long time ago, and as a result, doesn’t play a lot of cricket consistently. However, the 37-year-old always looks in good shape and has avoided rustiness well in the twilight stages of his career. The batting legend stressed upon working on his fitness and even admitted that it’s getting harder to find his rhythm back as time passes, but he continues to put in the hard yards nevertheless.
“I must say the work to get back to decent form was a lot harder than before and the last match I played was in the last IPL. It doesn’t mean that I didn’t put in the hard yards and I started about two months ago. I had 2-3 months off, stayed fit in the gym and I started hitting cricket balls. Enough to get me to space, to get me going,” AB de Villiers said.
