AB de Villiers is the only batsman who can take on someone like Jasprit Bumrah: Gautam Gambhir

Royal Challengers Bangalore are one of the three teams who are yet to win an IPL title. They came very close in IPL 2016 but were beaten in the final ultimately by Sunrisers Hyderabad. Since then they have struggled to even qualify for the playoffs until last year, when they made it to the playoffs but were knocked out once again in the eliminator.

RCB have had a good start to IPL 2021 once again winning five out of the seven matches before the tournament came to a halt due to COVID-19 cases within the bio-bubble. But they will be eager to carry the momentum forward as the tournament restarts on September 19 in the UAE. Former Kolkata Knight Riders captain Gautam Gambhir believes that RCB have a really good chance thus year as they have several good players who can dominate the opposition.

“He’s (Virat) got people like AB de Villiers and Glenn Maxwell, which is a huge cushion to have. Even if it’s not Maxwell, AB is a massive cushion because there is only one person who can take on someone like Jasprit Bumrah and it was AB de Villiers. I have not seen anyone else who has done that consistently against Bumrah, but AB is a freak,” Gambhir said in a conversation with Star Sports Network.

Gambhir will also be a part of the Hindi commentary panel during the UAE Leg. He said that there will be enormous pressure on Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers again to bring the title home.

“But yes obviously, from Virat’s standard they would want to go out and dominate the opposition, especially in the IPL. There’s international cricket where you’ve got 5 or 6 top international bowlers, you don’t have that in the IPL,” Gambhir said.

“You probably get 2 or 3 international bowlers and then you’ve got domestic bowlers as well, whom you could dominate. So, probably there’s a lot of pressure on Virat and AB as well, which could be one of the reasons and year after year, if you don’t win that title the pressure keeps on increasing as well,” he added.

While IPL 2021 restarts on September 19 in the UAE, RCB play their first match the very next day against the Kolkata Knight Riders in Abu Dhabi.