IPL 2021: Kevin Pietersen feels AB de Villiers must be hating his poor form for RCB in UAE and would be aiming to improve.
AB de Villiers hasn’t been in the best of form in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 season’s UAE leg and has only managed scores of 0, 11, 14 and 4* in his four outings for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). Despite his sudden loss of form, RCB have found runs from the likes of Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal and Glenn Maxwell to keep their place in third position in the IPL 2021 Points Table. Former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen feels even if De Villiers scores three ducks in a row, he would still not lose his place in the playing XI due to his past heroics with RCB. But Pietersen also feels that De Villiers must be disappointed with his poor form.
Speaking on Star Sports after RCB’s win against Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Wednesday, Pietersen said, “He is an established player; he is a senior player. He would not want to see Kohli or Maxwell score the runs he is scoring. He must be thinking ‘I’m not holding my side of the bargain. This is just not the AB de Villiers that he is used to seeing”.
“He is a proud player; he is a fabulous player. We have seen that over a number of years. From his point of view, he would like to contribute. He would be hating the fact that he hasn’t been able to contribute. He has contributed so much to the world of cricket and in the IPL. If he gets three ducks in a row, it doesn’t matter. What he has done for the IPL and RCB is incredible. However, he would want to score”, he further added.
The South African veteran has scored 5083 runs in 180 IPL matches, including three centuries and 40 fifties.
In the ongoing season, the swashbuckling batsman has smashed 234 runs in 11 fixtures, with a high score of 76*.