Sticky wicket might have posed a “great challenge” but South African batting maverick AB de Villiers was a satisfied man after his first net session in ages.
De Villiers, who is gearing up to showcase his skills in the 13th edition of Indian Premier League (IPL), resumed training with his Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) teams at the ICC academy in Dubai and said the first session was fairly good as he stuck to the basics.
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“It was very good, enjoyable to be out there, the wicket was a bit sticky so it was a great challenge, actually if I could have it my way, I would have wanted my first net session to go like this only after a long time,” he said in a video posted on RCB’s official Twitter handle.
“I kept my basics in place, watched the ball carefully, I played some nice shots in the end and it was enjoyable,” added De Villiers, who also donned the keeping gloves during the session.
RCB players hit the nets for the first time on Saturday (August 29) after successfully completing their mandatory quarantine and three COVID-19 tests.
The session was also attended by Umesh Yadav, Parthiv Patel and Gurkeerat Singh among others.
Strength and conditioning coach Shanker Basu said: “There are three things we have to be mindful. One the players are coming after a long time and they will be ready to jump and go gang ho and it is our job to pull them back a little.
“Number two, there is oppressive heat and that can be a telling thing, most importantly we need to find the right balance in gym. From now onwards, it should just aid the skill part.”
RCB captain Virat Kohli, South African pace legend Dale Steyn, the spin trio of Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar and Shahbaz Nadeem were among the players who had attended the first net session.
“(It went) much better than expected, to be honest. I was pretty scared. I hadn’t picked up a bat for five months, but yeah it came out better than I thought, to be honest,” Kohli had said.
COVID-19 pandemic forced the BCCI to shift the IPL 2020 to UAE. The sixty-game event, for which a detailed itinerary is yet awaited, will be played across venues in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah from September 19 to November 10.
(With PTI inputs)
