AB de Villiers, Dale Steyn, Chris Morris join RCB teammates in Dubai ahead of IPL 2020
South African cricketers AB De Villiers, Dale Steyn and Chris Morris have joined their Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) teammates in Dubai ahead of the 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), which is scheduled to take place from September 19 to November 10 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The Bangalore-based franchise took to its official Twitter handle and informed its followers of the trio’s arrival in Dubai on Saturday.
Posting a video of the three South African players reaching the UAE, the RCB tweeted, “And here it is RCB fans, the moment you’ve all been waiting for! @ABdeVilliers17, @DaleSteyn62 and @Tipo_Morris have joined the team in Dubai!#PlayBold #TravelDay #IPL2020.”
And here it is RCB fans, the moment you’ve all been waiting for! @ABdeVilliers17, @DaleSteyn62 and @Tipo_Morris have joined the team in Dubai! #PlayBold #TravelDay #IPL2020 pic.twitter.com/l0n09ZV5Jb
— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) August 22, 2020
Upon his arrival, former South African skipper De Villiers said that he is extremely happy to join his RCB family and eagerly looking forward to the lucrative T20 tournament.
“I am very excited, very happy to be here. Travelling was bit different to normal but we have made it here with my South African friends and we are very happy to be back in the RCB family. I am looking forward to my COVID-19 test,” De Villiers said in the video.
Morris, on the other hand, said that it’s been quite a while that they have played the game and, therefore, they are extremely excited to be back on the field.
“It’s been quite a while that we have played the game that we love. So yeah very challenging but we are very excited to get going, a little bit nervous too to be honest,” he said.
“It’s going to be interesting to play in the heat. We got here like 3:00 in the morning and it was steaming outside. So ya, we are looking forward to what’s it going to be like the couple of weeks,” Steyn stated.
Earlier, the other players of the RCB reached the UAE on August 21 to begin their preparation ahead of the 13th edition of the IPL.
Notably, the RCB have never managed to clinch the title in the IPL. The Virat Kohli-led side made a last-place finish during the 2017 and 2019 edition of the T20 lucrative tournament while their last appearance in the final came in 2016.
In the 2020 IPL Player’s Auction in December last year, the franchise spent a total of Rs 17.1 crore on eight purchases they made.
The 2020 IPL was originally slated to take place from March 29 to May 24 in India, but the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) postponed it indefinitely in April due to COVID-19 pandemic.
