"First Person To Abuse Me": Ryan Rickelton Reveals Chat With MI Teammate After Missing Out On Ton
Ryan Rickelton missed out on a century against the Lucknow Super Giants. His Mumbai Indians teammate Quinton de Kock wasn't happy.
The nature of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is such that a maximum of four overseas players are allowed to feature in a playing XI. This restriction often prevents a team from fielding its best combination. At the Mumbai Indians, the management is only able to pick one opener between Ryan Rickelton and Quinton de Kock. On Monday, it was the former who hit a blazing knock of 83 off 32 balls to lay a strong foundation while chasing a target of 229 runs. After the game, Rickelton revealed that he was 'absolutely abused' by compatriot de Kock for failing to score a hundred on the day.
Rickelton and de Kock are competing for the same spot in the Mumbai Indians team, but off the field, their camaraderie is as strong as it can get. In fact, Rickelton revealed that de Kock has even been working with him behind the scenes to help him improve his game.
"It's been tricky, I suppose, to have a guy of Quinny's calibre sitting on the bench at the start of the season. It was tricky to manage mentally because maybe you're burning yourself with a bit more pressure to do well because you have a guy who's flipping good sitting behind you, and the whole world's screaming to pick him. So, trying to manage your way through that has a few challenges, and you can put yourself under a bit too much pressure. But on the flip side of that, I got an opportunity when he did some damage to his hand," he said.
As Rickelton returned to the MI dressing room after his knock against LSG, de Kock wasn't happy. In fact, Rickelton revealed that de Kock was the first person to 'abuse' him for not completing a century.
"And I still back my game, I still back my skill, and the opportunity was there. I just really want to try to represent this team globally as well, but this team in general, Mumbai Indians. So, it's always healthy competition. We're very supportive of each other. I mean, he was the first person to absolutely abuse me tonight, saying I threw away a hundred, which I agree with. So, yeah, he's very supportive.
"He's helped me a lot this tournament. He's watched my batting and he's tweaking things along the way to help. I'm not sure what the structure is. So, yeah, it's worked the way it's worked so far. And like I said,
Mumbai Indians
Lucknow Super Giants
Quinton de Kock