IPL 2020: 'When AB de Villiers plays, it seems that the pitch is different and the bowlers are ordinary' - Aakash Chopra

Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra has opined that AB de Villiers is in a class of his own, as the conditions and the opposition bowling attacks do not matter when the South African is in his element.

He made this observation while reviewing the Royal Challengers Bangalore's (RCB) one-sided victory against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in a video shared on his YouTube channel.

Aakash Chopra started off by pointing out that AB de Villiers made batting look easy on a difficult Sharjah pitch, on which all the other batsmen were seen to be struggling.

"Is AB de Villiers really human? Unbelievable is what we saw from AB de Villiers at Sharjah. When AB de Villiers plays, it seems that the pitch is different and the bowlers are ordinary while in front of other batsmen the bowlers grow in stature and the pitch becomes difficult."

While talking about the RCB batting effort, the reputed commentator mentioned that Devdutt Padikkal batted very well, with glimpses of the classy Yuvraj Singh evident in his strokeplay.

"Devdutt Padikkal is looking very good to me. This player is India's future. The balance with which he plays reminds you a little bit of Yuvraj Singh. Of course, it is very difficult to reach Yuvi but he is on the right path."

Not competing with you paji. 😛 Learnt the flick from you. Always wanted to bat with you. Let’s go!🤩 https://t.co/dpGkmpLBfJ

— Devdutt Padikkal (@devdpd07) October 3, 2020

Aakash Chopra added that while Aaron Finch gave RCB a good start along with Padikkal, Virat Kohli was struggling a little bit to get his timing right.

"Aaron Finch also gave a good start on a difficult pitch but Virat Kohli seemed to be struggling for the first time. He had the form behind him but the runs were not coming and the ball was not hitting the middle of his bat."

---

Aakash Chopra on AB de Villiers' match-defining knock

AB de Villiers took all the KKR bowlers to the cleaners [P/C: iplt20.com]

Aakash Chopra stated that AB de Villiers left him spellbound with no adjectives to describe his strokeplay.

"But when everyone is struggling, then AB de Villiers comes and says that he is there and will manage everything. The sixes he hit, he is an unbelievable player. I do not have adjectives left to describe him."

The former KKR player added Virat Kohli perfectly summed by AB de Villiers' brilliance. The RCB captain mentioned after the game that only the South African genius could have batted like that on a difficult pitch.

"AB de Villiers can do everything on the cricket field. He is a rockstar, he bats at a different level. The way he plays, his style is different and there is nothing left to say about AB de Villiers after the high praise from Virat Kohli."

"Kohli said that he had batted and others had also batted, everyone was struggling but there was only one player who could have batted well on that pitch and he was AB de Villiers."

Aakash Chopra signed off by naming Mr. 360 as the singular difference between the two sides on the day.

Who scored the highest runs in IPL 2020, click here to find out.

"AB de Villiers was the single difference between the two sides, between a win and a loss."

AB de Villiers walked into bat with the RCB score reading 94/2 in the 13th over. His swashbuckling unbeaten knock of 73 runs off just 33 deliveries took the team to a score of 194/2, which was always going to prove too much for KKR under the prevailing conditions.

RCB vs KKR: Dinesh Karthik praises 'world class' AB de Villiers https://t.co/yEOiG5pazk

— TOI Sports News (@TOISportsNews) October 13, 2020