Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) director of cricket, Mike Hesson, has said that AB de Villiers will be a real wicketkeeping option in the upcoming IPL 2021 as the star cricketer has embraced the role before.

Royal Challengers Bangalore’s wicketkeeping options have been one of the much-discussed topics ahead of the upcoming 14th edition of the Indian Premier League. In less than two weeks, IPL 2021 commences on April 9 with RCB locking horns with five-time champions Mumbai Indians in the season opener.

Royal Challengers Bangalore Delighted With The Fact AB De Villiers Embraced Keeping And There Are Couple Of Other Keeping Options

Mike Hesson, the director of cricket with RCB, has said that star batsman AB de Villiers will be a real wicketkeeping option for the team this season after the former South Africa captain had donned the wicketkeeping gloves in a few IPL matches last year. According to Mike Hesson, AB de Villiers loved the role and wants to do some more this year.

AB de Villiers donned the wicketkeeping gloves in a few matches last year and he is expected to do the same this year if it fixes the balance of the playing XI, said the former New Zealand cricket coach in a video posted by the official Twitter handle of RCB.

“We were delighted with the fact that AB de Villiers loved wicketkeeping and he embraced it. He wanted to continue doing it, he is a real option. We now have a couple of other wicketkeeping options which is great. Mohammed Azharuddeen is a natural athlete with the gloves and in the field. We also have KS Bharat. He is a natural keeper (and) gives us different options as well,” he added.

New Zealand cricket coach Mike Hesson announced he was quitting, citing family reasons.© AFP

“We are not going to make the commitment now to you guys as to who will do what. We are really pleased with the options we have got and AB is certainly one of those.”

Royal Challengers Bangalore’s training camp is all set to begin next week on Monday (March 29) ahead of their opener against MI and according to Mike Hesson, AB de Villiers is scheduled to arrive on March 28.

“We have got players arriving all the way through till April 1. Finn Allen will be playing in T20I in New Zealand on April 1 and then he will come the day after… ABD arrives on 28,” he earlier said.

“It is very different than the last year where we had everybody together for a long period of time on the back of a period where the guys had not trained or played. So, this time it is different, we got players playing international cricket over here and overseas and domestic cricket up until a handful of days ago. So, we had to prepare in slightly different ways,” he added.

One of the biggest positives for Royal Challengers Bangalore from their campaign in IPL 2020 was the emergence of South Africa’s great AB de Villiers as a full-time wicketkeeper. The Bangalore outfit has decided that they will go with AB de Villiers as their first-choice wicketkeeper in the 14th edition too as it provides the required balance to the team and helps them in exploring the different combinations.

Royal Challengers Bangalore Has Several Options Apart From AB De Villiers As Keeper

Apart from AB De Villiers, RCB has two Indian keepers in their squad too in Mohammed Azharuddeen and KS Bharat. Both the players are coming on the back of a scintillating run in the domestic tournaments and were picked by RCB during the auction for IPL 2021. Finn Allen is the other option for the keeping slot. He was added as a late replacement for Josh Philippe, who had pulled out his name from the league owing to personal reasons.

Royal Challengers Bangalore. Image Credits: Twitter

The Virat Kohli-led side is all set to start their training and practice for the upcoming league on March 29. They will be locking horns against the Mumbai Indians in the inaugural game of the tournament on April 9 in Chennai.