AB bats for under-fire compatriots

AB De Villiers may not be in the form of his life but he’s not averse to batting for some of his beleaguered colleagues in other teams. Anand Vasu reports.

AB De Villiers may not be in the form of his life but he’s not averse to batting for some of his beleaguered colleagues in other teams. With Jacques Kallis, Dale Steyn and Mark Boucher all playing for the Bangalore team you’d expect him to have some empathy. But he went one step further.

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“It is a good team but I believe there is a lot of pressure on the players from the top level. It is never healthy for the players but yes I cannot really comment from the outside. I know that the guys I know well like Kallis or Boucher hasn’t got going. Kallis for instance can clear the ropes with ease but somehow he hasn’t expressed himself well over here,” said de Villiers before Delhi’s crucial match against Bangalore.

“Perhaps the pressure of being overlooked for the Twenty20 World championship has affected the way he plays. Dravid too showed that he can clear the ropes with ease on Saturday but I just hope these guys don’t get firing against us in tomorrow’s game.”

At the same time de Villiers admitted that his team had been hit by some close defeats, especially the last game against Mohali. “It was a close game and we did not capitalise on the big moments. Viru’s over went for runs, he bowled well but the batsmen had decided that they will make a move on and they got struck into him,” he said.

“It happens in cricket, it’s a fine line. One day you get the wickets, on another day you get hit. When we were batting, Hopes hardly conceded any runs in the final over while when they batted, Jayawardene and Pomersbach got going and Viru went for 22, those two overs made a difference.”