'That was a special knock': RCB head coach Simon Katich praises AB de Villiers' masterclass against KKR in IPL 2021

RCB head coach Simon Katich was all praise for AB de Villiers, saying that the Proteas star is the best in the business when it comes to batting towards the back end of an innings.

Royal Challengers Bangalore's (RCB) wicketkeeper-batsman AB de Villiers on Sunday, with his bombastic 34-ball 76 against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), showed just how important he is for the side.

Simon Katich (left) and AB de Villiers(HT Photo)

Simon Katich-coached RCB clinched their third consecutive win of Indian Premier League 2021 (IPL) to stay at the top of the points table unbeaten. Katich lavished rich praise on AB, stating he is the best in the business when it comes to batting at the death.

"We know that ABD is the best in the business in the backend and we have seen here in Chennai, a lot of teams have struggled at the backend and that is something we have done really well in these three games on the back of him and Maxwell. That can be the difference between winning and losing games," said Katich.

Opting to bat first in Chennai, RCB got off to a poor start when Varun Chakravarthy picked up two wickets in one over of the first innings. Then, Glenn Maxwell (78) helped RCB motor on with an excellent innings in the middle overs. The finishing touch was provided by AB de Villiers' remarkable 76 as RCB surged to 204/4 in 20 overs.

In response, Shubman Gill started off well with a blistering cameo of 21 before being sent back by a brilliant diving catch from Dan Christian. Nitish Rana and Rahul Tripathi scored 25 and 18, respectively but failed to convert their starts. Yuzvendra Chahal, who hadn't picked up a single wicket this season, bagged two in as many overs to further dent KKR's hopes. Morgan's 29, Shakib's 26, and Russell's 31 went in vain as KKR lost by 38 runs.

McCullum also lauded Glenn Maxwell--for his 78-- and opener Devdutt Padikkal, who stuck around and steered his team out of trouble by putting on an 86-run stand for the third wicket with Maxwell.

"Boys were magnificent today, we had a tough start but the way he fought back with that partnership between Glenn Maxwell and Devdutt Padikkal got us into a position there from where we could get the score we got. At 9/2, no one would have thought we would score above 200. Maxwell and Padikkal deserve a lot of credit for setting up the platform and then AB, that was special knock as well," said Katich in a video posted on the official Twitter handle of RCB.

In terms of T20 batting, we were treated to two masterclasses from Maxwell and ABD. Young Padikkal's innings should not go unmentioned because that partnership between him and Maxwell gave us momentum in the innings and it put pressure on KKR," he added.

RCB will next take on Rajasthan Royals on Thursday here at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.