IPL 2021: “Absolute pleasure playing alongside Glenn Maxwell” – AB de Villiers

After Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) two-wicket victory in the opening IPL 2021 match against Mumbai Indians (MI), AB de Villiers showered praise on his new RCB teammate Glenn Maxwell. The South African stalwart stated that it’s an absolute pleasure to play alongside cricketers who look to win games.

AB de Villiers and Glenn Maxwell were the top two scorers for the side as RCB defied history and won their first-ever tournament opener after suffering losses in the 2008, 2017 and 2019 editions.

On his debut for RCB, Maxwell batted at No.4 and set the platform after Powerplay with a 28-ball 39, whereas it was AB de Villiers who finished the game for them with a 27-ball 48.

“Absolute pleasure playing alongside Maxwell. I love playing with players like him. Fantastic to have someone like that bat ahead of me. And then Dan Christian behind me. We have a nice little setup,” said AB de Villiers after the match.

There’s a reason why MI have won 5 IPL trophies: AB de Villiers

AB de Villiers went on to praise MI for making the chase difficult for RCB and believes winning against the defending champions, who have won the tournament 5 times, will give the Bangalore-based franchise a lot more confidence as the tournament progresses.

“It was an incredible game of cricket, always seems to be against Mumbai. We obviously came in knowing it wasn’t going to be easy. I knew halfway it was going to get tough. It’s one of those pitches that gets harder as the game goes on. They have a wonderful bowling line up that put us under pressure."

“There’s a reason why Mumbai have won this trophy five times, there’s a lot of aura around them. But that was the challenge, to beat the champions and get a lot of confidence. We did well tonight,” AB de Villiers added.

RCB will play their second match of IPL 2021 against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the same venue in Chennai.

WE HAVE NO WORDS. 🤯🙏🏻#PlayBold #WeAreChallengers #MIvRCB #DareToDream pic.twitter.com/wcWa4DfYUi

— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) April 9, 2021