Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) beat the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by 10 runs in their first game of IPL 2020. Even though the result does not indicate it, the Royal Challengers did dominate most of the game. They were helped by half-centuries from the debutant Devdutt Padikkal and the veteran AB de Villiers.
The South African played just one game of competitive cricket back home in the past 6 months and was actually surprised to find form so early in the tournament with not enough match practice.
After the game, he spoke to the commentators about how interesting some young Indian and Aussie talent is present in the RCB squad this year.
"I surprised myself, to be honest. We had a competitive game in South Africa which was quite nice. It was important for me to get out there and I arrived here with a little bit of confidence. There’s a lot of Indian talent coming through and Aussie talent. We saw Josh Phillippe tonight, he is a great prospect," De Villiers said post-match.
The 36-year-old is confident about the way he has trained in the last four weeks building up to the tournament and is happy with his performance in the first game. Although he got run-out going for a desperate second run in the final over of the game, De Villiers is happy that his basics are still in place.
"When you come here and you haven’t played a lot of cricket so you do doubt yourself. But we have worked really hard in the last four weeks as a team and as an individual to get me in some kind form. Tonight was a very pleasing start. Unfortunately got out form a run-out at the end but I am pretty happy with the basics that seem to be in place," the batsman said.
(With inputs from Hindustan Times)
