De Villiers: You're always just one knock away from being in that confidence zone

Tags: Indian T20 Cricket 2019, Punjab XI vs Bangalore XI, 28th Match at Mohali, Apr 13, 2019, Bangalore XI, Punjab XI, Abraham Benjamin de Villiers

Published on: Apr 14, 2019

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AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli finally shone together for Royal Challengers Bangalore in a winning cause as RCB chased down 174 with ease at Mohali. Both de Villiers and Kohli blasted half-centuries as Chris Gayle's unbeaten 99 went in vain for Kings XI Punjab.

Following the victory, man of the match de Villiers, who smashed his third fifty in seven games, said the decision to quit international cricket has made him sharper. "I can't keep playing 10-11 months a year and keep being sharp after 15 years of international cricket. This kind of tournament, I'm playing every now and then, every 2-3 months," he was quoted as saying in an ESPNCricinfo report.

"It really keeps me energetic. I get to work with university guys back home. With some of the local guys and local youngsters, which really gives me the energy and really motivates me to be better for some of the youngsters back home and be an example for them," he added.

De Villiers was candid in admitting that he got hasn't converted all his starts, but said he doesn’t read too much into it. "I've got too much respect for the game to be upset about that. Obviously I want to be there at the end every time, winning games for the team. I've hit the ball well, I've got in many times, and I just haven't gotten far on a few occasions.

"But as I said, I've got too much respect for the game of cricket to get ahead of myself and get too hard on myself. You're always just one knock away from being in that confidence zone and hopefully I'll maintain this kind of form throughout the tournament now," he went on to say.

De Villiers also said that he was pleased to learn around RCB signing former teammate Dale Steyn. "I think it was a fantastic move to get Dale involved," he said even while admitting that RCB have a big challenge at hand, winning as many games as possible to stay in contention.

--By A Cricket Correspondent

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