'I feel ready and as young as ever' - AB de Villiers ahead of IPL 2021 opener against MI

Former South African captain AB de Villiers will be returning back to action in the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) as he again represents the franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) under the leadership of Virat Kohli. AB, fondly renowned as Mr 360 for his unorthodox shots and fearless batting, arrived in India in RCB’s Chennai camp on April 1.

After completing the mandatory seven-day quarantine period, the batsman finally joined the team’s practice session on April 7 and is all set to launch an assault on the opposition bowlers. De Villiers has announced his retirement from international cricket and doesn’t feature in any other league apart from IPL across the globe.

Thus, the batsman last featured in a cricket match for RCB during the Elimination round of IPL 2020 against Sunrisers Hyderabad. The Bangalore outfit lost the game against SRH and their campaign in IPL 2020 came to an end. De Villiers had shone brightly in the previous edition and was one of the main reasons behind the team reaching the playoffs.

De Villiers feeling nice after a few training sessions

Speaking about his preparation for the upcoming IPL, AB de Villiers revealed that he had a few training sessions before arriving in India both outdoor and indoor and is looking forward to a wonderful season of cricket again.

“I had a nice few training sessions, a lot of fitness, a lot of gym work. I feel ready and I am as young as ever so looking forward to it. We have spent a lot of time in the room in the last week and before that, we were travelling. It was quite intense coming out. I hit the floor running and gave it my absolute best.

“Had a lot of fun out here tonight and I was hitting the ball okay. Not 100% so I will come back tomorrow for a bit more,” de Villiers said during an appearance on RCB’s Bold Diaries.

“Yeah, I have quite a few sessions for the last six weeks. Quite a few outdoors and indoors. I mixed it up nicely. When I wanted to work on shots I would go indoors and if I wanted to have a feel for the outdoors with the nibbling around a bit I would spend an hour or so in the outdoors,” AB de Villiers signed off.