Former Indian batsman Gautam Gambhir has heaped praises on AB de Villiers and said he will provide a massive cushion to Royal Challengers Bangalore to strengthen their position in the IPL 2021. The second leg of the IPL 2021 will resume on September 19 in the UAE.
Gambhir praised AB de Villiers’ ability to dominate the best bowlers like Jasprit Bumrah with his batting. De Villiers has scored 112 runs against Bumrah at a strike rate over 140 while the bowler managed to dismiss him only twice.
Also Read: AB de Villiers smashes a century in RCB’s practice game
Royal Challengers Bangalore are sitting on the third spot in the points table with five wins in seven games.
Gambhir feels Virat Kohli will benefit from the presence of De Villiers and Glenn Maxwell.
“He (Virat Kohli) has got people like AB de Villiers and Glenn Maxwell, which is a huge cushion to have. Even if it’s not Maxwell, AB is a massive cushion because there is only one person who can take on someone like Jasprit Bumrah and it was AB de Villiers. I have not seen anyone else who has done that consistently against Bumrah, but AB is a freak,” Gambhir told Star Sports.
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He, however, feels both Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers will be under pressure as they haven’t lifted the IPL trophy yet.
“You probably get 2 or 3 international bowlers (in the IPL) and then you’ve got domestic bowlers as well, whom you could dominate. So, probably there’s a lot of pressure on Virat and AB as well, which could be one of the reasons and year after year if you don’t win that title the pressure keeps on increasing as well,” said Gambhir.
De Villiers hasn’t played competitive cricket since May this year. However, he doesn’t look out of touch as he scored a flamboyant century in the practice game, which includes 10 towering sixes.
