During Match 35 of the ongoing 12th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) between Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, former South Africa international AB de Villiers did not feature in the playing XI of team RCB.
Who replaced AB de Villiers in KKR vs RCB clash?
At the toss, RCB captain Virat Kohli put rest to speculations regarding ABD’s absence. “AB (AB de Villiers) is not well so Henrich Klaasen plays and Dale Steyn makes his return to RCB after nine long years,” Kohli was quoted as saying during the toss as he also announced the comeback of South Africa veteran Dale Steyn.
De Villiers had a mild concussion and was rested for the same reason.
Prior to this match, ABD was the leading run-scorer for RCB in this edition’s tournament. The swashbuckling batsman has scored 307 runs in eight matches at an average of 154.27. The Red Army would be hoping for their star batsman to get fit and make his way on the field at the earliest.
Here’s how Twitter reacted:
No AB de Villiers in the RCB squad, misses out due to illness. Dale Steyn is back in the RCB colours after 9 long years.#KKR field an unchanged eleven#KKRvRCB pic.twitter.com/Joppb5uCau
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 19, 2019
Making their debuts tonight for us: @Heini22 and @DaleSteyn62 (again!!!).
❤️❤️❤️🎉🎉🎉#playBold #KKRvRCB #VIVOIPL2019
— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) April 19, 2019