IPL 2021 | Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers have a huge challenge ahead of IPL second leg, reckons Gautam Gambhir

IPL 2021 | Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers have a huge challenge ahead of IPL second leg, reckons Gautam Gambhir

Gautam Gambhir has stated that Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers will be in for a huge challenge during the second leg of the IPL, having not played any T20 cricket recently. Gambhir also singled out KL Rahul as a batsman to look out for, who he feels can score 2-3 hundreds in a single season.

The Royal Challengers Bangalore endured a fine start of the season, winning five wins from the first seven games during the India leg earlier this year. The Virat Kohli led outfit, who finished fourth last season, are currently placed third in the IPL 2021 points table.

Gautam Gambhir believes that Kohli and AB de Villiers, the team's two most experienced batsmen will have to adjust quickly, having not played any T20 cricket in recent times.

“There’s going to be a challenge for Virat and there's going to be a huge challenge for AB de Villiers as well because he will be coming into the tournament without playing any cricket at all. Virat Kohli will have to adjust really quickly because there'll be hardly any time for him to get used to it,” Gambhir said on the Star Sports show ‘Game Plan’.

The former Kolkata Knight Riders captain further stated that the duo needed to score quickly and consistently if RCB are to make to the play-offs and win the title. Kohli aggregated 198 runs at 33 from seven matches during the first leg of the IPL, while de Villiers returned with 27 at 51.75.

“From the five-Test-match series to the T20 format, and AB as well, because these guys need to get runs if they have to have a chance to first qualify for the playoffs and then probably go on to win the title,” he added.

Gambhir also expressed his views on Punjab Kings skipper KL Rahul, who he feels hasn't quite been at his best yet. Rahul aggregated 331 runs at 66.2 from seven matches during the first leg of the IPL in India.

“We haven’t seen the best of KL Rahul. Yes, he has got runs, but we still haven't seen, what he can achieve in his batting,” Gambhir felt. “You could have a season like Virat Kohli had once. He's that kind of a player in white-ball cricket, where he can get 2-3 hundreds in a season and at a very good strike-rate as well.”

The IPL 14 will resume on Sunday, September 19 with Mumbai Indians taking on the Chennai Super Kings in Dubai. RCB will play KKR the following day in Abu Dhabi.

Haven’t done the job a captain needs to do, admits Eoin Morgan on his KKR stint

Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Eoin Morgan acknowledged that he hasn’t done justice to his job as captain, ever since having taken over from Dinesh Karthik midway through IPL 2020. KKR finished fifth last season, and are placed seventh on the IPL 2021 points table with two wins from seven games.

The Kolkata Knight Riders have released a documentary titled "We are KKR" in association with Amazon featuring top players, management personnel and coaches, which is available on the franchise’s YouTube channel.

The two-time champions didn't had the best of starts to the ongoing season during the first half, winning just two matches out of seven. They are currently placed at the seventh position in the points table, two points ahead of the bottom-placed Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Skipper Eoin Morgan spoke about team’s and his performance in the first leg of the IPL 2021 and during the last season, as he reflected on his journey as captain.

“A captain is only judged by performance and it hasn’t been good. I haven’t done the job a captain needs to do. You can talk about captaincy in the level of leadership and the intricacy of it all day but ultimately a captain is judged by results,” stated Morgan in the documentary.

Former KKR captain, also a part of the documentary, believed that the team can make a comeback despite their poor start, as he rued the inconsistency shown during the India leg.

“It has been up and down. I think we have played some good cricket in patches but we haven’t been consistent. I think that’s why we are at this stage right now. I think we are definitely capable of better cricket. At various points of time different people have stood up and at times the main guys haven’t stood up,” Karthik said.

Head Coach Brendon McCullum asserted that the players need to trust their skills and performance will take care of itself.

“To be fair, I think we have to just go out and play and be able to put all the white noise to the side, just trust our skills,” McCullum said.

Kolkata Knight Riders will begin the second leg on September 20 against Royal Challengers Bangalore at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.