AB de Villiers, the South African batting legend, thinks Virat Kohli should just play it cool and smart this season. RCB’s got some serious hitting power, and Phil Salt should take some of the pressure off Kohli. Even though Kohli’s been consistent, his scoring rate has been talked about the last couple of years. But with RCB getting Salt, Liam Livingstone, Tim David, and Romario Shepherd – all guys who aren’t afraid to go big – de Villiers believes Kohli can relax a bit.
Virat looks like he’s having fun out there. I don’t think he’ll need to worry about scoring faster with Phil Salt around, de Villiers said on JioStar Press Room on Tuesday.
Salt’s one of the most aggressive hitters I’ve ever seen. He’s going to take a load off Virat. Virat just needs to keep doing what he’s been doing for years – lead the game, play smart. He’s got the best gut feeling of anyone out there. He knows when to speed things up and when to slow down.
De Villiers, who played for RCB for 11 seasons, said Kohli needs to make sure the batting doesn’t fall apart.
Virat needs to be the batting leader this tournament and just hold things together, play smart so they don’t have those batting collapses.
The former South African captain thinks Kohli’s been getting undue criticism the last few seasons.
There’s no doubt some of the talk has gotten to him a bit. He’s only human, he’s probably got some doubts in his head.
But the good thing about Virat is he’s always been able to block everything out when it matters most and get down to business. With Faf du Plessis gone, RCB’s got a new captain in Rajat Patidar.
De Villiers said Patidar’s biggest problem will be doubting himself, trying to fill the shoes of former captains like du Plessis and Kohli.
His biggest thing will be feeling insecure, stepping into the roles of Faf and Virat… having Virat around and always second-guessing himself.
He needs to be himself and not try to copy Virat or Faf. He needs to use Virat’s experience, and the experience of Andy Flower and others. RCB’s going to be traveling a lot this season, switching between home and away games constantly.
Their schedule is going to be tough. The team is solid, which is good, especially with their schedule where they’re always going to different places. They’ve got the hardest schedule of any team. Still, de Villiers thinks RCB has a strong, well-rounded team.
They just need a top-notch spinner, right? Krunal Pandya is a great spinner. We’ve seen him do well consistently over the years, and he can bat too. They’ve got some other options as well.
But look at that batting lineup. It’s all power. It’s a good mix of power and control.
