Washington Sundar and Shivam Dube promoted over AB de Villiers against KXIP

During the 31^st match of the IPL 2020 between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Kings XI Punjab (KXIP), the Virat Kohli-led side batted first and after the openers had given the team a decent start, everyone expected to see Kohli and AB De Villiers do their magic once again.

The duo had recently completed 3,000 partnership runs and 10-century partnerships in IPL history and RCB fans were waiting to see them bat again. However, inexplicably, RCB management sent in Washington Sundar ahead of AB, who made 13 runs in 14 balls.

With overs dwindling fast, RCB then sent in Shivam Dube, confusing the experts and fans alike, as De Villiers was in the form of his life, scoring three half-centuries in the IPL so far.

IPL 2020: ‘I was asked to wait’, AB de Villiers reveals he was getting ready to bat at No. 4 against KXIP

Dube made 23 in 19 balls before getting out to Jordan and then De Villiers walked in. He had no time to settle down with four overs left and got out for 2 in 5 balls trying to up the ante. It was only due to Chris Morris’ 8-ball 25 and Kohli’s 39-ball 48, that RCB managed 171/6 in 20 overs, which didn’t prove to be enough.

AB de Villiers explained the rationale behind sending Dube and Sundar before him in his column for Hindustan Times and wrote, “I was asked to wait because the coach and captain had decided to send out left-handers to face the two KXIP leg-spinners, who were bowling at the time.”