IPL 2018: AB de Villiers positive despite RCB defeat in first match

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) had a horrendous beginning to their 2018 Indian Premier League (IPL) campaign. They were the firm favourites ahead of their clash against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), however, they were thumped by Dinesh Karthik’s men. They racked up a daunting target for the Knights, which was chased down pretty comprehensively.

They were brilliant in patches but crumbled during crunch moments of the game. Nevertheless, despite the loss, AB de Villiers sounded confident about RCBs chances in the series. Daniel Vettori, the head coach of the franchise asked him to churn out the positives from the outing and shed the disappointment of the game while taking the field next time around.

“Optimistic about our prospects”- de Villiers

“Dan (Daniel) Vettori pulled me to one side after Sunday’s opening defeat against KKR at Eden Gardens. The RCB coach was disappointed with the result, but he wanted me to know he had seen plenty of positives in our performance and he felt optimistic about our prospects,” de Villiers was quoted as saying by The Times of India (TOI).

The game turned when Nitish Rana nipped out both de Villiers and Virat Kohli in successive deliveries which pushed the Challengers on the back-foot. While defending the target, RCB bowlers faltered as Sunil Narine took them to the cleaners and put the Knights on the driver’s seat. Following Narine’s dismissal, the Knights weren’t required to drop much sweat to overhaul the target.

“We understand Virat and I should not have been dismissed in successive balls when we appeared to be going well and when one of us really needed to carry on and get to 70 or 80, and we also realise we needed to find a way of preventing Sunil Narine from getting KKR off to yet another flyer. But what’s done is done and, as Dan said, there were upsides,” he added.

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