IPL 2019: The reason why AB de Villiers isn’t a part of the KKR game in Kolkata

The Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) campaign in this edition’s Indian Premier League (IPL) has gone into the doldrums after losing seven out of their first eight games. They are currently playing an away match against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. However, they don’t have the enigmatic AB de Villiers in today’s match due to a mild concussion.

The Challengers played their erstwhile contest against the Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai and the experienced campaigner churned out a hard-fought 75 only to see the knock go in vain. Moreover, he was also hit on the helmet by the vicious bouncer from right-arm speedster Jasprit Bumrah in the 19th over of the RCB’s innings.

A massive miss for the RCB

The team’s physiotherapist immediately came out and had a look at the Pretoria-born cricketer who took some time to resume his inning. As far as the ongoing encounter is concerned, Virat Kohli, the Challengers’ captain, updated about ABD missing out of the game. “AB is not well and we don’t want to risk him,” Kohli was quoted as saying after RCB lost the toss.

Heinrich Klaasen, the South African batsman, who was brought at a price of INR 50 lakhs, was included in the playing eleven for the match. De Villiers missing out was a massive jolt for the visiting team, especially with the position the franchise is in. The 34-year-old has been a fulcrum of the Challengers for quite some time now and RCB has persisted with the veteran.

Prior to this match, ABD was the leading run-scorer for RCB in this edition’s tournament. The swashbuckling batsman has scored 307 runs in eight matches at an average of 154.27. The Red Army would be hoping for their prolific batsman to get fit and make his way on the field at the earliest.

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