IPL 2021: We haven't played our absolute best yet, says AB de Villiers after RCB's thrilling win over DC

De Villiers also spoke about his own form in the UAE-leg of the IPL 14.

RCB won the thrilling IPL 14 contest against DC | BCCI/IPL

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) batter AB de Villiers was elated with RCB’s “fantastic” 7-wicket win over Delhi Capitals in the final league game of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) in Dubai on Friday (October 8). He was particularly impressed with RCB bowlers’ efforts against DC.

The RCB bowlers didn’t allow DC to dominate after Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw gave the side a good start, as Delhi was restricted to 164/5, which Bangalore chased down with KS Bharat hit the winning six off the last ball to win the IPL 14 contest by 7 wickets in Dubai on Friday.

Read Also: IPL 2021: Kohli says win against DC gave confidence of turning game from any situation

Following the thrilling win over the DC, De Villiers insisted that the RCB has not yet played their best cricket in the ongoing IPL 2021, but they are getting close to it and he hopes for good things this season.

De Villiers told host broadcaster Star Sports: “Fantastic win, we're very happy with that, came up short in the last game, but we came up with a last-ball win tonight, so happy. We showed a lot of character as a bowling group, we haven't always had the best of starts in the first six, which we're better tonight.”

He added, “We didn't let Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw get off to a great start and then pulled things back very well in the back-end. It's been amazing, shows once again that there is a lot of character in this bowling unit, we'll need a lot more, but very happy with the way the boys have gone.”

The right-hander, who has amassed 302 runs in 14 games for RCB in the ongoing IPL 2021, scored 26 runs off 26 balls against DC and said it wasn’t easy to bat against Delhi bowlers on Friday.

Read Also: IPL 2021: "Wasn't nervous at any point," says RCB's KS Bharat after a thrilling last-ball win over DC

De Villiers added, “I'm feeling good, haven't had a lot of opportunities so far, I'm hitting the ball well, had a bit of a slow start today - thought they bowled well to me on a deck that wasn't easy to bat on, but I'm striking them well, working hard at the nets and ready to come for the next matches.”

He signed off by saying, “I think we need to do what we are doing and maybe up it a notch, have been speaking about peaking at the right time. We haven't played our absolute best, but we're getting close. If we can get that twitch in the finals, hopefully, there are good things to come.”

(With ANI Inputs)

 
 

By Rashmi Nanda - 09 Oct, 2021

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