I’m definitely gonna give it everything I have to finish on a high: AB de Villiers on winning the IPL with RCB

RCB has been one of the most entertaining teams to watch throughout the IPL. Despite consistently boasting of one of the most explosive batting units filled with world-class talent, the IPL title has eluded the grasp of the team till now. The three-time finalists would love to adorn the trophy cabinet with the IPL trophy, and AB de Villiers, who came close to achieving the dream twice with RCB, shares the emotion.

“It’d be fantastic, obviously,” said AB, speaking about winning the IPL. “I’ve been with RCB for quite a while now. I know how much Virat wants it as well. I’m right in it with him. I also know how difficult it is to win an IPL, it doesn’t just happen, a lot of things have got to go right and you need a bit of luck at the right time as well. So, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t go out there and give it a real go, and possibly lift the trophy, but that’s also not a certainty. I’m definitely going to give it everything I have to finish on a high.”

A recurring criticism from the experts over the years has been RCB’s dependency on Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers to guide their batting. Asked whether having two great players can sometimes affect the mindset of the camp, and create a sense of over-dependency, AB told Cricbuzz, “I can imagine it can be a factor. I think it's possible that it can sort of change other people’s performances and mindset a little bit; not a mindset of having to sit down and whatever, they will win, but also a mindset of trying to prove that they can also play on that level, and then changing their gamelans because of that, and then ultimately not really performing well. I don’t think it should be a factor, but maybe it is, I don’t know.”

De Villiers went on to pick his all-time IPL eleven which he thinks has the ability to go on and win the IPL title. He decided to open with Virender Sehwag who he played with at Delhi Daredevils for the first three years of IPL and Rohit Sharma. The middle-order consisted of Virat and himself. He picked Dhoni as his wicket-keeper. Ben Stokes and Ravindra Jadeja were the two all-rounders the Protean picked to be on his side. The dream bowling unit consisting of Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, fellow South African Kagiso Rabada, and Jasprit Bumrah rounded off  AB’s dream team.