Although Royal Challengers Bangalore has still got an outside chance to qualify for the play-offs and is not even sure whether they will or not, yet AB de Villiers feels that the team will not lose hope.
Cricket news: We are not going to go down quietly and easily, says AB de Villiers
Their chances got elevated when they thrashed Ravichandran Ashwin-led side Kings XI Punjab with a ten-wicket win in a league match on Monday.
AB de Villiers wrote in his column for Times of India, that it was a perfect match for Bangalore as they previously bundled out their position for just 88 runs in 15.1 overs, and later chased down the target in just 8.1 overs.
“Well, that’s one way to meet the challenge of containing the opposing batsmen in the last five overs of their innings: bowl them out in 15 overs! That’s precisely what happened in our ‘perfect match’ against KXIP in Indore, and the win keeps our dream of progressing to the playoffs alive. There have been days during the past few weeks when it felt as if absolutely nothing would go right for us; in contrast, this was a day when it felt as if nothing would go wrong,” said de Villiers.
The side led by the current Indian skipper Virat Kohli are currently at seventh place with 10 points, jointly tied with Mumbai Indians.
To book a play-off spot, RCB has to win against Hyderabad and Rajasthan in their upcoming matches and will have to hope some other results go in their favour.
“We knew we had to win each of our last four league matches. There is still plenty of work to be done, at home against Sunrisers Hyderabad and away against Rajasthan Royals, and we still have no room for error, but you never know. Two down and two to go, we are fighting,” added de Villiers.
Previously the bowlers of RCB have been criticised hugely for their inability to defend big totals. But de Villiers have supported them and has said that they had always delivered at crucial moments.
“Our bowlers have received some unfair criticism during this tournament, but they found their lines and lengths when it mattered. Umesh Yadav set the tone, using raw pace to blast through the KXIP top order, and our fielding maintained the pressure. With three runouts, the home side were dismissed for 88 in 15.1 over,” said Mr. 360.
The 34-year-old South African batsman has so far scored 358 runs at an average of 51.14 from ten matches he has played. He is hopeful that his team will always possess a strong mind-set and will continue to fight till the end.
“RCB are not going quietly. Our collective mindset is strong. After playing in Delhi, we faced a long day of travelling on Monday, featuring huge storms. Nobody complained, nobody moaned,” concluded de Villiers.