T20 2018: When I feel threatened, I counter-attack, says AB de Villiers

AB de Villiers during his unbeaten 90 v Delhi on Saturday. Pic/AFP

Ladies and gentlemen, sit up and take notice. AB de Villiers is human, we can confirm that. And like any human who plays cricket he too is afraid of losing his wicket. "I felt threatened" were the exact words he used during a pleasant interaction with select media at the RCB team hotel here on Monday afternoon.

De Villiers was talking us through the period when he took on Shabaz Nadeem, the left arm spinner from Delhi Daredevils, during his match-winning knock at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday last. It was as brilliant a bit of counterattacking that you could get to witness in an IPL game. Despite the ball spinning and gripping the surface, AB literally swept Nadeem and DD out of the game.

So did he plan to hit out that way because he noticed from the dugout that the ball was turning square? "No not at all. It's all in the moment. I felt he could get me out and my way to counter that is to attack, to put pressure on him, and then he makes mistakes instead of me. It's a game of chess in a way. I came in there and saw it turn a bit and I thought straightaway, there are two slips here, if I block, I will get out. My way of transferring the pressure, to show than I am not there to block it, but I am there to score runs…. it's that simple."

Nah, this guy can't be human. Simple he says to things extraordinary. But then he said it, the ‘T' word. Asked if he attacked because the slips were there (and it opened up other areas of the field), AB said: "No, not at all. I felt he could get me out. That's what it's about. I felt threatened, this guy is going to get me out, the field is showing me that they're trying to get me out so I am trying to get them out by transferring pressure on them."

The threat was thus nullified in one go by a non-thinking, simple human being. At least that's what he would have us believe.

What about when he fails as he has done on occasion this season? "I don't think about it. Every game I try and contribute. Whether I have 10 ducks in a row or 10 hundreds in a row, whichever game I play I'll try and win it for the team. And that's any team I play for. I'm here for RCB. We had a good game against Delhi and that's in the past now. Now we wanna win against CSK (the game is tomorrow). They are playing good cricket and they haven't lost in a while now. They are on top of the leaderboard, so it's up to us to try and beat them. It's a big game for us and we would like to get two wins in a row. I know it's gonna be hard work," said AB.

He came into the IPL with some fantastic knocks behind him over two intense Test series (against India and Australia) and while he said that there is nothing better than having played high intensive cricket ahead of a high-profile and demanding tournament as the IPL, AB was also very clear that he didn't view things in terms of runs or results.

"Funny thing with sports people is you always compare your value as a person in results, which is the wrong thing to do although it does make you feel good about yourself when you score runs and come into the tournament with confidence. But, there is a fine line between success and failure and for sports people it is always important to remember that. I have learned how to deal with success and failure over the years, and not to let it spike it up and down too much. Have more of a straight line," said AB.

That's indeed great thinking, so does he tell the youngsters in his team, the likes of Sarfraz Khan, the same, about not getting carried away by success or get too downcast with failures? "Most of my advice normally is, don't over think it, don't complicate things, keep it simple, he said.

"I have spoken to lot of youngsters a number of times and they look at me as If I am crazy. I tell them, it is basic, keep it simple, keep your head still, watch the ball, don't think too much. And they are like no, that can't be it. But, it is what it is all about - it is mastering the basics and then the rest falls in place. The youngsters just think how I do that and stuff, but it is actually just the basics."

Like the youngsters, none of us in the room believed him and told him so too. The great man just shrugged.

The attention then turned to Virat Kohli, the captain and the batsman.

"Yeah, he has been fantastic," said AB of Kohli. "The true judge of a good captain is when you don't perform well and still do a good job of leading a side. He's come through with flying colours when it comes to that. He's still putting in a lot of effort and energy into the team, into preparing us and keeping energy up during training sessions. That's the characteristic of a true captain and a really good leader. He has been a fantastic captain for us and I know that he's going to score a lot of runs for us in the rest of the tournament. Even if he doesn't, I know he'll be a good leader and the team will back him up."

Some praise that and it all sounded very genuine. You don't expect anything else from AB.

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