AB de Villiers has surprised himself with his innings of 51 runs off just 30 deliveries in Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) win of 10 runs against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
In what was RCB’s season opener in IPL 2020, de Villiers helped Virat Kohli’s team in crossing the 150-run mark at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Monday.
“I surprised myself to be honest. We had a competitive game in South Africa, which was great, gave me a little bit of confidence,” de Villiers, who retired from international cricket in 2018, said after RCB beat SRH by 10 runs in Dubai.
“As a 36-year-old to come here, having not played a lot of cricket, in the middle of some talented youngsters – was a pleasing start. Very happy with the basics, seems to be in place,” he added.
Meanwhile, debutant Devdutt Padikkal with his 42-ball 56, followed by Yuzvendra Chahal’s 3/18, proved to be the difference between both teams as Hyderabad registered a collapse in middle-order while chasing.
Speaking about Padikkal, the former South African skipper said, “Padikkal is a shy and quiet guy but I don’t have to say much really, he looks like a really good talent. It’s a tough thing to arrive at the IPL, they don’t come more tough than that. The talent is just incredible. Every year there are 19 and 20-year-olds coming through looking like they’ve played international cricket for a long time.”
On being asked to bat first, RCB could only manage to post 163/5 despite getting a blistering start from openers Padikkal and Aaron Finch. The duo had helped Virat Kohli’s team to race to 86/0 in the first 10 overs before de Villiers took control.