I focus on the basics in crunch moments of the game: AB de Villiers

The first match of IPL 2021 gave a glimpse of the brilliance of AB de Villiers who scored 48 runs from 27 balls to ensure that his team cross the line against MI.

Over the years De Villiers has been vital part of RCB playing X1 and whenever they are in a difficult situation the only player they look up to is none other than De Villiers. Recently he was asked about how year after year he manages to deliver with the bat to which he replied that the fear of failure keeps him going along with focusing on the basics of the game.

“It’s not always very enjoyable. I try and play the situations that I am confronted within the best possible way, sounds pretty simple. But the fact of the matter is that when you bat in the middle order, the situation changes every time. It’s a matter of adapting and trying to make the most of it…It comes off more often than not,” the Proteas legend told RCB ‘Bold Diaries’.

“But you always know that it’s possible that you are going to fail. Fear of failure always pushes me to focus more on the ball and do basics better. Try and get a start. It is important to start the first 20 balls well,” AB added.

The swashbuckling batsman has retired from International cricket and plays only in IPL and his brilliance with the bat can be clearly understood by the fact that coming to this ongoing season of IPL 2021 he hasn’t played any competitive cricket for five months, the wicketkeeper said that he has been quite disciplined regarding his physical fitness.

“I must say the work to get back to decent form was a lot harder than before and the last match I played was in last IPL. It doesn’t mean that I didn’t put in the hard yards and I started about two months ago. I had 2-3 months off, stayed fit in the gym and I started hitting cricket balls. Enough to get me to space, to get me going,” de Villiers said.