After Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) lost their match against Mumbai Indians, there raised few questions regarding the defeat of the team. This made everyone think whether everything is going well in the Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) camp? What’s the reason for RCB’s defeat? can AB de Villiers be blamed for RCB’s defeat to Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede yesterday? Few things that happened on the ground yesterday seem to suggest so.

The way the Mumbai Indians had surrendered to pressure in their last two games from a strong position, the chase was never going to be an easy one. Virat Kohli handed the ball to Aniket Choudhary to bowl the important 18th over who picked up the first wicket of MI on the very first ball of the innings. When RCB pacer Aniket Choudhary was brought on to bowl the 18th over, the game was treading on a tightrope.

Despite His Own Talent, Aniket Followed For AB de Villiers Advice:

The home team needed 30 runs from 3 overs with the last recognized pair of Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya at the crease. Five deliveries into what was turning out to be a fine over, Choudhary was in a bit of a fix. He had conceded only five runs and the pressure was showing on Mumbai Indians, but he wondered what the final ball of his over should be. It was at this juncture that the bowler delivered a wide, before heading to AB de Villiers for advice.

A rare moment of failure for him occurred when he ended up being hit for a six on his final delivery in the previous match against Mumbai Indians. The options he had in mind, as he would later reveal, were to either bowl a slower delivery or deliver one with good pace. Having already bowled four slower balls in the over, de Villiers was of the opinion that it would be advisable to bowl a quicker one, and his logic was that the batsman would anticipate the slow ball and would be prepared for it.

It was very much likely that Pandya would go for the big shot on the final delivery and Aniket bowled another slower delivery but it was rightly adjudged a wide delivery.  Upon AB de Villiers’ advice, Aniket bowled a straight, fast and short ball. The ball was asking to be hit and Pandya obliged, hitting it into the deep square stand to bring down the equation to 18 runs off 12 balls much to the disappointment of Kohli who was looking angry with Aniket.

“I was wondering whether to bowl him (Hardik) the slower one or the fast one. Maybe it was a match-changing point. So I went to AB and asked him ‘what should I bowl?’ And he said ‘maybe he’s ready for the slower one, so I think you should go with the hard length.’ And when someone as great as AB tells you to do something, such a world class player and if he is giving you a suggestion, it’s very hard to go against it. And I thought he is right. And Virat wasn’t happy with what I bowled. He thought I did the wrong thing and I should have bowled full and slow,” quoted Aniket Choudhary.

Despite the odd moment, Aniket has no love lost for AB. He noted that AB has always backed him to do well in the tournament. He has been very supporting in the nets as well. Aniket reflected how AB de Villiers consoled him after the poor delivery.

“In the last training session, I was practicing with AB and he said I was bowling really well and that it didn’t matter what happened in the last game. It doesn’t mean you didn’t bowl well when things don’t go your way. In this match also, he was backing me from the first ball,” added Aniket Choudhary.

His left arm bowling impressed Virat Kohli and things have been on a merry run for him since then. He noted that the IPL is a big platform for him. Despite the team failing to make it to the playoffs, he cited the tournament as a great learning curve for him on the personal front.

“It was a very good experience (bowling in the nets to the Indian batsmen), if you are bowling to top Indian batsmen and getting them out, that’s where I got noticed by Virat. Once you bowl to the best and get them out, I don’t think there is a better way of gaining confidence than that. After that, whichever domestic competition you go, like when I played Ranji Trophy, I was very confident. It appeared a lot easier then,” Choudhary said.

“Definitely, it’s (IPL) a big platform for me to learn. First time I am getting to play in IPL. I have been learning a lot this season as am getting to play with some of the big names. We are out of contention (for playoffs) but if you perform well in the remaining matches, you will get confidence and do better next year. It will also beneficial in your career going forward,” the left-arm pacer conceded further.

With the loss to MI, it was 8th in 11 matches and RCB have become the first team to be eliminated from IPL 2017. But Choudhary opted to take home some positives from his experiences so far.