I always wanted to bat at top three: AB de Villiers

There's an unwritten rule in cricket: get your best batsman to face the maximum deliveries, even if it is T20s. For the first four matches this IPL season, the Royal Challengers Bangalore sent AB de Villiers at No. 4 and No. 5. It was only after the results weren't coming that the South African was promoted to No. 3, and since that move, the RCB have been on a winning spree.

A few 40s and a fifty did not do justice to the kind of talent and skills de Villiers possesses. His unbeaten 133 against the Mumbai Indians on Sunday certainly did, and the huge score had a lot to do with the amount of time he spent in the middle, having come in to bat the fourth over.

"I have always wanted to play at the top of the order," de Villiers told iplt20.com. "From the day I started playing T20 cricket, I always wanted to bat at the top three and I am very thankful for the fact that Royal Challengers Bangalore has given me the chance to bat at three now," he said.

So what is the secret behind the class of AB: the fact that he can almost play with the bowlers' mind, move around the crease like he's on a surfboard, and find the gaps at will?

"It has probably got to do a lot with experience. I have played the game for a long time now and most batsmen will tell you that it comes with experience.

"Yes, maybe back in the day all the other sports other than cricket that I played helped me to put some of those skills in my cricket. But I have played the game for 11 years now at the international level. I know my game pretty well and that is the secret to success in most sports. I feel the same every single time I play. I just try and earn my right to get on top of the bowlers and that is how I play every game."

He did all that and more on Sunday, making the likes of Lasith Malinga, Harbhajan Singh and Mitchell McClenaghan look mediocre. De Villiers, however, said he has played much better in the past.

"I won't say this is the best I have played, I have played much better before but things went my way.

"I am at top of the game at the moment but I know this game knocks you down very quickly. I try and keep my feet on the ground and keep working at my game. I know you are only as good as your last game," he added.
He shared a record 215-run stand with Virat Kohli, but the South African said they spoke very little in the middle.

"He is a little more intense than me at the wicket. I try and keep it really simple. We don't say too much but we just talked about keeping the intensity up throughout the innings and try to maximize our innings as much as possible," he said.