Faf Du Plessis-led Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) are set to lock horns with five-time champions Mumbai Indians (MI) on Day 3 of the Indian Premier League's (IPL) 2023 extravaganza at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on Sunday (April 2). Right ahead of the high-octane drama between the two IPL giants, RCB's star pacer Harshal Patel gave a big statement while drawing a parallel between the two 360 degree batters AB De Villiers and Suryakumar Yadav. Harshal said that ex-South Africa skipper De Villiers was one step better than India's and MI's explosive batter Suryakumar.
It will be a battle to watch when Patel will be up against Suryakumar when RCB take on Rohit Sharma's MI.
Harshal told ESPNcricinfo that RCB need to keep their strategy in check to thwart Suryakumar storm while stating that De Villiers was one step ahead of the Indian batter because he would make bowlers bowl wherever he wanted. De Villiers played for RCB for 10 years in the IPL in which he amassed 4491 runs.
"Someone of Surya's calibre, who's in the kind of form that he is in, all you can bank on is your planning and execution. What he does after that is up to him. This is not the first time I have encountered this problem. AB was one step better than Surya, in the sense that he would make you bowl where he wanted,” said Patel.
"Surya will sweep you from almost outside the pitch on off stump. Another ability he has is to take the ball on his body all the time. It's one thing to take the ball on your body and play in front of square but if you are trying to play behind square and if it comes out a little slower or a little faster, it's going to hit you. And you have to be okay with that. I don't think many players are,” Patel added.
All eyes will be on the ‘Number Uno’ of T20Is Suryakumar who will look to put on a show with his lightning batting to confirm his berth for the all-important ODI World Cup which will be played in October later this month.
Royal Challengers Bangalore Final Squad:
Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, Mohammad Siraj, Faf Du Plessis, Harshal Patel, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dinesh Karthik, Shahbaz Ahemad, Rajat Patidar, Anuj Rawat, Akash Deep, Josh Hazlewood, Mahipal Lomror, Finn Allen, Suyash Prabhudessai, Karn Sharma, Siddharth Kaul, David Willey, Reece Topley, Himanshu Sharma, Manoj Bhandage, Rajan Kumar, Avinash Singh, Sonu Yadav, Micheal Bracewell.
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