Dinesh Karthik said that seasoned Royal Challengers Bangalore batsman AB de Villers’ belligerent unbeaten knock of 73 from just 33 balls took the match away from Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League at Sharjah on Monday.
The KKR skipper was gracious enough to praise de Villiers after his team lost by 82 runs, chasing 195 on a slower track. “Sometimes he (AB) is a really hard batsman to bowl to because of the way he moves around the crease. But today he stood still and made sure that he cleared his left leg and got a lot of balls outside the ground. It was not that easy to bowl to him, but kudos to him for the way he batted,” said Karthik in the post-match press conference.
“We had opportunities to create a little bit of inroads but they got away with a few shots…AB de Villiers showed why he is a very good player. Time and again to come out and score 80 runs off the (last) five overs is not easy, but he made it look much easier than what it was.”
RCB scored 83 runs in the last five overs.
Karthik defended the decision to field Englishman Tom Banton as an opener, replacing a ‘versatile’ batsman Rahul Tripathi. “Once you play Banton, you’ve got to make sure that he opens because that's where he is best at… He has opened in international cricket and has done well,” said Karthik.
