Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) ace batsman AB de Villiers talked about the young Australia keeper-batsman, Josh Philippe. De Villiers said he has watched Philippe bat and there's a similarity between him and his younger self.
De Villiers can't wait to interact with Josh after former Australia cricketer Adam Gilchrist lauded the 23-year-old. He is also very confident about RCB's chances in IPL 2020 and named the star players who will be joining them.
Speaking in a video on RCB's official app, AB de Villiers said, “We are going to have some world-beaters in this edition, we will have Finch, Moeen Ali, Adam Zampa and Josh Philippe. I am looking forward to connecting with Josh, I see a lot of similarities between the way he plays when I was younger.
"The four guys joining us will add to what we have created here and that is a very special team environment. I am excited about Josh, I watched him play for the Sydney Sixers, he takes the new ball on, he is a very talented player, I have heard Gilchrist say really some good things about him."
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De Villiers feels the energy in the stadium will be missed because of no crowd, but it won't affect his game. RCB has one of the biggest fanbases and they get dreamlike support at home ground Chinnaswamy.
“I think everyone wants to play in front of big stadiums, there is a sort of adrenaline that pumps into you when the crowd gets very loud especially in the Chinnaswamy when the RCB crowd gets going, it gets difficult to stop the RCB side. We will miss that, I won’t say I am not used to it, I have played a lot of cricket in empty stadiums.
“I grew up like that, it’s only during the last few years of my international career that I played in front of full stadiums. Even then, every season I used to go back to play domestic cricket and play a four-day game and there were just four-five people sitting inside the stadium. But we will miss the RCB crowd without any doubt,” he said.
The Proteas cricketer recalled Virender Sehwag's triple hundred in the heat of Chennai against South Africa while talking about the challenges they will face in UAE because of the weather.
“I am not really used to these types of conditions, it is very hot, it reminds of me a Test match we played in Chennai where Viru scored 309, that’s the hottest conditions I have ever played in. The humidity is similar to that, when I arrived here, I googled the weather conditions for the next two months here in UAE. It seems to be getting better, I can already feel that it is better to right now. It is important to have energy and the weather will definitely have a part,” he said.
IPL isn't going to be the first tournament for De Villiers after lockdown, he has already taken part in the new format, 3TC.
“I won’t say I necessarily fell in love with 3TC cricket, the idea was pitched to us, it is a different format, it felt unique and different, there were certain elements that I did not enjoy as much and they will have to work on that. It was great fun to play a game of cricket in the middle of a lockdown. It was great to be out there to be with some of my friends and play cricket.
“There would not be a drop in the level of cricket, in the 3TC game I faced some of the best bowling in the last three-five years, the boys were landing great yorkers, the guys were so hungry to play cricket, you might just see that level of cricket grows higher now as everyone is working so hard, they are very hungry and they are all very motivated. We are going to see some fireworks,” he assured.
(with ANI inputs)
