MUMBAI: South African batting great AB de Villiers has a simple advice for Suryakumar Yadav, the World No 1 T20I batsman who’s going through a lean patch of late. In between having recorded three consecutive ducks in the ODI series against Australia last month, the dashing Yadav, the world’s No 1 T20I batsman, was out for 8 on his Test debut against the Aussies at Nagpur, and for 15 in Mumbai Indians’ first game in the IPL, against RCB at Bangalore.
Giving his own example of when he would lose form or he thought he had lost touch, De Villiers said, “I went through those patches a lot of times in my career, and it is something I can write a book about. To be out of form is something I always feared so much and when I was in form, I always respected the fact that my next bad knock could be just around the corner. So, whenever I got in, I ensured to keep going and worked hard at my game. I very clearly remember that (once) in the IPL I had two bad knocks in a row I would start getting anxious. I would be thinking ‘I am very close to being in bad form and I need to quickly get out of it’.”
De Villiers, who scored nearly 20,000 runs in international cricket across formats, advised ‘Sky’; to stick to what has worked for the Mumbaikar in the last few years. “He is probably in that phase now where he needs to do something. But the secret of it all is not to panic and not to change your game plan. He has got to stick to what has been working for him over the years. Yes, maybe, he can try and remember ‘what are my basics’ or ‘what did I do very well when I was just consistently scoring runs’ and because obviously, he took his game to a completely different level,” said the former Proteas skipper.
With his ‘360 degree’ style of shot-making, Surya has evoked comparisons with De Villiers in the last few years. The retired great felt that somewhere, Surya needed to realize that he “can’t always score 100 off 40 balls,” something which the former himself became aware of while batting for RCB in the high-pressure environment of the IPL.
“It is not a bad thing just to come a level down and spend a little time in there before you pop out again. You cannot always score 100 off 40 balls – it is not always going to happen. That is something I had to learn the hard way with the Chinnaswamy crowd going, expecting me to score a hundred in every game. I sometimes had to tell myself, ‘you know what AB let’s be honest here, you are not reading the ball very. Just make sure you go run-a-ball and give Virat the strike or just get someone else on’. And then slowly and surely, I get one good shot and then I am back in the game,” De Villiers said.
“He is probably going through those phase where he is going to realise ‘I cannot entertain the crowd every single innings. Get back to the basics, do what I do best’. There will always be a sign when you get into good form; there will be a bad delivery from the bowler or you will hit a good straight drive and then you can say ‘hold on, I am back in form and let’s hurt the bowlers’. You just have to manage the gears – I call them gears between first and the fifth gear, ‘where I am at the moment’. He is probably in second gear at the moment. Respect the fact that you are in second gear, find a way to get to the third and you can push from there,” he explained.
The 38-year-old is currently enjoying his time as an IPL Expert for JioCinema. “Being in this team and with my friends, they are my friends not just commentators because we all played together and against each other, it is just a privilege. We all get along so well, we all know the game so well, the banter is pretty interesting. We do not always agree which is great,” said De Villiers, who retired in 2018.
The conversation quickly moves to ABD’s ‘old friend’ Virat Kohli, who endured a miserable time in IPL-2022, managing to out together just 341 runs in 16 games@22.73, with 2 fifties, but has got off the blocks in this edition with a dazzling 49-ball 82 not out, which shaped RCB’s eight-wicket win over MI in their season opener.
De Villiers felt that quitting RCB captaincy helped the ex-India captain take the pressure off the latter, and he looked a ‘refreshed’ man now. “I haven’t seen much change (in his batting). Everything is looking very similar. The technique looks solid. He’s got good balance at the crease. He’s still that ‘busy’ player, with a lot of energy at the wicket. I just feel (that) this season, he’s come looking really fresh. I’ve seen some of his interviews. He's laughing more than ever. He makes jokes. I think letting the (RCB) captaincy go in 2021 played a big role. He’s just relaxing. He was a fantastic captain, but he led for a long period of time. both internationally, and also in the IPL, which can be daunting. You never get time off just to chill and spend time with your family and have a laugh with some friends. So, I think that’s his mantra for the season-to just go out and have fun, keep smiling, you know. When he’s having fun, that natural talent takes over, and he scores runs at ease, which he did in that first match,” analysed the Protea legend.
“And I think (his) best is yet to come. We’re going to see some fireworks (from him) in the season. And I’m looking forward to watch that happen,” he added.
De Villiers gave a thumbs-up to the new Impact Player rule in the IPL. “It is still very early, and we have not seen enough examples of the games being impacted by the impact player. But I have really enjoyed it this far is the fact that with injuries, the guys can be replaced. We saw it with Kane Williamson. Especially with the bowlers, if a bowler gets an injury back in the day that would cost you the game. If you get a fast bowler or one of your main bowlers injured – that is game over. This rule is fantastic with that, I think it should have happened a long time ago where you could just replace an injured player. It is just fair in my opinion. But we will know what strategies the captains and coaches take on board and I think the all-rounders are not threatened by it at all. A quality all-rounder will always have a place in a cricket team. You cannot take that away from a guy like Ravindra Jadeja or Rashid Khan or Marcus Stoinis, everyone who offers a little bit with the bat and the ball is actually the perfect impact player,” analysed De Villiers.
Identifying the youngsters who’ve impressed him so far in IPL-2023, ‘Mr 360 degree’ said, “There are a few. To be honest, (Yashasvi) Jaiswal looks to be a very good, talented player. Tilak Verma from MI’s first game. I was in awe (of him) when I watched him bat at the Chinnaswamy (Stadium) the other day. Under pressure, when they really needed him to score some runs. He was there, and he made it look really simple. He’s got a lot of time when he’s batting. There are a few others whose names are not coming to (my) mind right now, but those two stand out. Sai Sudarshan of Gujarat Titans is also a very talented player. He kept the whole innings together. He was like a glue of the innings, and he allowed someone like a David Miller to express himself at the backend, which tells me (that) there’s a lot of maturity in that youngster. So, there’s already three of them. Every season, I’m just so surprised and impressed with this tournament, with the (kind of) youngsters coming through. Obviously, I’ve an eye for the batters, because I used to be a batter myself. But it’s very impressive and great to see.”
Having failed to win an IPL trophy in his time with RCB, De Villiers is hoping that Kohli is finally able to break his jinx in the league this time. “The Gujarat Titans are a really strong team, and probably the favourites in my opinion to win the tournament. But RCB have had a fantastic start, there’s absolutely no doubt in my mind that they can win the tournament. T20 cricket can be up and down. It’s not always the best-looking team that wins you the tournament. Yes, we got emboldened with our first win, you know. It was a very good performance. We play tomorrow. It won’t be easy. It’s our first away game, against KKR. But then we come back to the Chinnaswamy, and hopefully will build a momentum. If we get an away win, it will be incredible for the confidence of the squad, to come back home and be playing back-to-back home games then. And then things are looking really good. It’s a long road ahead. There’s a lot of things that need to fall in place, but there’s no doubt in my mind (that) we can win the tournament, and I’m hoping for the best. I don’t want to get ahead of myself. If we can just get through to the knockouts…it’s our first goal, then anything can happen in those knockouts. We have the talent in the team. There’s no doubt about it.
Has he seen T20 batting evolving and does he see it going in a certain direction? “I certainly have. It’s incredible how normal the players seem to make it look these days. I felt like I was really being crazy when I tried all those shots back in the day or pull the trigger early to have a go at the bowler…I thought like it was one of my doings, but I’m enjoying it, just keeping it going. Now everyone is doing it, and making it look so easy and simple. It doesn’t look like a complicated set-up, which is incredible, and it just shows you how the game is evolving. And there’s no doubt in my mind (that) over the next 3-5, 10 years, we’ll keep seeing that progression, and we’ll keep seeing the game go to the next level. And players do incredible things. So yes, it's fantastic to see. Yes, it makes me very happy to see the game move on like that,” he gushed.
