Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) secured their first victory of the 15th edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) after they managed to beat Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by three wickets, on March 30 (Wednesday).
Ahead of the mega auction for IPL 2022, RCB had decided to retain their former skipper Virat Kohli, Australia all-rounder Glenn Maxwell and Indian pacer Mohammed Siraj. Various big names were released by the Bangalore-based franchise ahead of the mega auction. Former South Africa batter AB de Villiers is one player who will not be representing RCB this season. De Villiers had announced his retirement from cricket following the end of the previous edition of IPL.
ABD's big prediction
De Villiers recently made a big prediction while talking about Kohli’s batting.
"Everyone knows about Faf du Plessis coming in as captain. I think the most exciting thing for me is Virat not being captain and releasing a bit of the pressure, really just going out there and freeing up.
“I am expecting a very big season from Virat. I am thinking 600-plus runs from him this year,” said AB de Villiers on YouTube channel ‘VUSport Streaming’.
“He (Kohli) will be in Faf's ear, but Faf is also very experienced as well. He has got a good cricketing training on him and he would allow Virat and some of the youngsters to just go and free up, and just enjoy the IPL. I don't know what to expect (from RCB) but I expect some individuals to really rise in this IPL from the RCB setup,” he further added.
Kohli in IPL 2022
Kohli commenced his IPL 2022 journey on a promising note after he scored 41 runs off 29 balls against Punjab Kings (PBKS). But in the second match, against KKR, the former India skipper only managed to score 12 runs off 7 deliveries.
Notably, the Delhi-born batter is the record holder for most runs in an IPL season when he scored 973 runs in the 2016 edition with four centuries and seven half-centuries in 16 matches. His highest score in that edition of IPL was 113.
In their next match, RCB will take on Rajasthan Royals (RR) on April 5.
