I don’t look at stats: AB de Villiers

AB de Villiers was the chief architect of RCB’s win over the Gujarat Lions in the first playoff at Bengaluru. Having been reduced to 28-5 within the powerplay, de Villiers, Stuart Binny, and Iqbal Abdulla led the Challengers to an astounding win. However, the humility of AB was there for all to see when he stated that the win felt all the sweeter than the 79 runs he smashed in the team’s cause.

AB answered, “To be honest with you, I am just humbled. I didn’t think it was possible to win from there when I started batting and when we were five or six down. I thought ‘Oh, we are in trouble,’ and it was a big mountain to climb from there on. Dhawal Kulkarni bowled a fantastic spell. He almost won the game for them, but it is never over until the last ball is bowled.”

“I tried to break it down into small targets. I wanted to focus on each ball and enjoy it even though we were down and out. I always had a bit of belief in the back of my mind. Such games just tell you that you are never out of the game. It is a funny old game – cricket. I am so delighted to have an impact in us crossing the line tonight. We played a really good game of cricket.”

The 32-year old South African added that the victory felt a ‘million times better’ than any hundred he had ever scored in his career.

“This is a million times better than any hundred I have scored. I have said it so many times before that I don’t look at stats. I don’t look at hundreds or two hundred or all of that nonsense. I just want to cross the line for the boys.”

“Tonight was a prime example of that. I have failed so many times in the past in pressure situations like that, but tonight my experience helped me. The amazing support here in M Chinnaswamy Stadium helped me to cross that line. Let’s not forget about Iqbal Abdullah who played really well there. Our bowlers too performed really well tonight.”

When asked how the feeling was to have batted with Iqbal Abdulla, de Villiers reiterated: “It doesn’t really matter who you bat with. It is really important to start a partnership and sort of understand each other.

“The minute he walked to the crease, I could just see the calmness about him. His eyes were open; he understood what I was telling and he played a fantastic knock and supported me well.”

“He has been in pressure situations before. I don’t follow a lot of domestic cricket in India but I am pretty sure that he is one of those guys who will always stick it out there till the end for the team. He straightaway hit me as a guy, as one of those characters.”

On being asked if he had a specific reason behind attacking Smith, AB said, “Virat sent a message out saying there is a bit of bad weather around and it was probably the best time to try and get up with the run-rate again. So, I decided to have a go in that over to see where it takes us.

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“That got us going so well and the crowd got behind us. It just didn’t stop from there. We always believed we could get to the target and that is the kind of character we have on the side. We never gave up. But it looked highly unlikely to make the knockouts, never mind the final. But here we are, just humbled and very happy and hopefully we can entertain the crowd on Sunday.”

AB said with huge relief, “It means the world to me. So many years, people have been saying that we have underperformed, but I always felt that we had a really good team and a good team spirit and character in the side.”

“Unfortunately, it never went our way. We would stumble in the wrong time and this year we probably got it right. We stumbled in the beginning but we are in a good rhythm now. I am just happy to give it back to the franchise that has looked after me really well. It is the best franchise for me, no doubt about it,” he said.