The former South African fast bowler Dale Steyn has taken a dig at RCB for consistently putting AB de Villiers into a position where he has to perform “miracles” to get his team over the line. Steyn posted his disappointment on Twitter after RCB failed to chase down a target of 142 against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Abu Dhabi yesterday.
It didn’t seem a mammoth task for RCB, even though the pitch wasn’t quite flat. At the time Glenn Maxwell was batting, it seemed RCB would manage to hunt the target down with an over or two to spare, but Maxwell’s run-out changed the whole complexion of the game.
AB de Villiers didn’t get to face many balls towards the end of the innings
AB de Villiers, who came out to bat after Maxwell’s wicket, didn’t get enough strike during the final overs of the innings. AB remained not out on 19 off 13 balls and RCB finished at 137 for 6 in 20 overs, losing the game by 4 runs which resulted in the utter disappointment of the fans and followers around the world.
AB de Villiers was on strike for the last 4 balls of the innings, and he refused to take singles, trying to finish the game in two shots, but he managed to connect just one on the 4th ball of the 20th over which went over the bowler’s head for a six.
The last two balls of the innings were bowled wide outside the off-stump by the bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar, keeping in mind the huge boundary on the offside. AB de Villiers had to get under the ball and get a good chunk of the bat to clear that huge off-side boundary, and it was only possible off a rank bad ball which wasn’t bowled by Bhuvneshwar.
Steyn, after the completion of the game, wrote on Twitter that RCB might have qualified to the playoffs, but it’s unbelievable how they manage to create a situation every time where AB de Villiers is required to do an extraordinary job.
I get they’ve qualified, but how on earth does RCB always leave AB to try and preform miracles
— Dale Steyn (@DaleSteyn62) October 6, 2021
RCB currently sits at the no. 3 position in the IPL 2021 points table and will most likely play the eliminator in Sharjah.
