JOIN USWatching AB up close is a dream: Mandeep
Throughout the season, Mandeep Singh has openly admitted the positive impact of sharing the Royal Challengers Bangalore dressing room with his idol A B de Villiers.
The Eliminator match against the Rajasthan Royals provided a perfect stage for the 23-year-old to show the de Villiers’ impact on him. Joining hands with his mentor with the Royal Challengers in a spot of bother at 46/2 against the Royals on Wednesday, both Mandeep and de Villiers struggled initially to get going on a two-paced wicket at the MCA Stadium.
With Rajasthan drying up the runs completely, conceding just nine runs in four overs and not giving away a boundary for 29 balls, it needed someone to break the shackles as even de Villiers struggled to play his shots. The Challengers needed a move-on at that stage, and it was the understudy Mandeep who took the attack to the Rajasthan, carting pacer Dhawal Kulkarni for a boundary and a six in the 10th over.
That acted as a catalyst for de Villiers (66, 38 balls) too. From that point, he started to bat freely and dismantled RR bowlers. De Villiers was not there to finish the job, but Mandeep did it in style with an unbeaten 54 (34b) as the duo stitched together a 113-run partnership to power Challengers to a match-winning total.
“Yes, watching AB from up close is like a dream,” gushed the youngster during the post-match press conference. “In a way, he and Virat Kohli are the idols of all young batsmen all over the world. They both rule cricket nowadays, so playing with them is a dream come true. It is immense fun.”
When asked how it felt to show de Villiers the way, Mandeep said he was plain lucky. “AB told me that the pitch is a little tough. It’s double-paced and the ball is swinging too, so it will take some time initially. We were aiming for a score of 140-150, not 170-180. Anything over 150 would be a bonus. So, we decided to keep it simple, spend time and then we could cover up later.
“I was getting some loose balls from them (RR) and I just capitalised. He was finding it a little difficult in the beginning, telling me that the ball is not coming on to the bat. He said it was the toughest innings he has played so far because he hasn’t struggled this much in any of the previous games. You can say I took a little bit of pressure off him initially, so it feels very good.”
Mandeep, who has played some handy knocks for the Challengers this season and is slowly making a name for himself despite the presence of Chris Gayle, Kohli and de Villiers, said he wants to use IPL as a stepping stone to success. “I think I’m very fortunate to play with the likes of AB and Virat. I’ve already learned a lot from both of them. This is the biggest platform if you want to come into the Indian team. Obviously, you have to perform well in the Ranji Trophy and India ‘A’ too.”