See a lot of similarities between the way Josh Philippe plays when I was younger: AB de Villiers

Former South Africa cricketer AB de Villiers sounded excited to rub shoulders with the young Josh Philippe in the 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Back in the auction in December 2019, the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) roped in the 23-year-old Philippe at his base price of INR 20 lakhs and he will be playing under Virat Kohli’s leadership.

De Villiers, who has been with the Challengers since 2011, said that he was impressed by the way Philippe played for the Sydney Sixers in the Big Bag League (BBL). In Australia’s domestic T20 competition, Josh has scored 798 runs from 32 matches at a strike-rate of 138.30.

In the 2019-20 BBL, on the backs of Philippe’s performance, the Sixers also became the champions. In the same tournament, De Villiers played for the Brisbane Heat. As far as RCB are concerned, the retired Proteas batter reckoned that they have ‘world-beaters’ in their ranks.

I watched Josh Phillippe play for the Sydney Sixers, says De Villiers

“We are going to have some world-beaters in this edition, we will have (Aaron) Finch, Moeen Ali, Adam Zampa and Josh Philippe. I am looking forward to connecting with Josh, I see a lot of similarities between the way he plays when I was younger,” De Villiers was quoted as saying in a video on RCB’s official app.

“The four guys joining us will add to what we have created here and that is a very special team environment. I am excited about Josh, I watched him play for the Sydney Sixers, he takes the new ball on, he is a very talented player, I have heard (Adam) Gilchrist say really some good things about him,” the Pretoria-born added.

Among his Aussie teammates, Philippe will have Aaron Finch and Adam Zampa to gain experience from. However, with RCB having a strong bunch of foreign players, he might have to warm the benches for most part of the tournament.

The Challengers will be starting their IPL 2020 campaign on Monday, September 21 against the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), led by David Warner, at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. In the 12-year-history of the event, RCB have qualified for the finals three times, but are yet to win the trophy.