Highlights:
- An impressive inning of 75 unbeaten from AB de Villiers help RCB post a target of 172 for DC
- DC lost the match by 1 run despite Hetmeyer and Pant’s unbeaten 53 and 58 respectively
- RCB and SRH skippers left in awe from AB de Villiers’ masterclass
An unbeaten knock from AB de Villiers of 75 runs off of 42 deliveries helped Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) post 171/5 against Delhi Capitals (DC) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Tuesday evening.
With his knock, de Villiers also became the only second overseas cricketer in the history of IPL to reach the 5000 runs milestone after David Warner. The former South African international cricketer received plenty of praise on social media for his brilliant batting display, and in particular from the skipper of SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH), David Warner.
Taking it to Twitter, Warner wrote, “Legend @ABdeVilliers17 my idol”.
Legend @ABdeVilliers17 my idol ?? https://t.co/iPcsmFinGv
— David Warner (@davidwarner31) April 27, 2021
Heroically, de Villiers helped RCB put up a total of 171 for five in 20 overs on the scoreboard. The South African was at his best, smashing three boundaries and five maximums during his unbeaten innings.
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Two other batsmen from RCB, Rajat Patidar and Glenn Maxwell, also made noteworthy contributions for RCB by scoring 31 and 25 runs respectively.
After RCB’s innings, proceedings were also temporarily halted due to a sandstorm. RCB even took to Twitter to joke that De Villiers’ fire power led to the sandstorm.
Waiting for the dust to settle from all the chaos AB caused. ? #PlayBold #WeAreChallengers #IPL2021 #DCvRCB #DareToDream pic.twitter.com/32wwe51B1r
— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) April 27, 2021
Kohli could not hold back from praising AB de Villiers in the post-match interview, showing how the South African left him in awe, he said, “AB doesn’t like me saying this, but he hasn’t played competitive cricket for 5 months, but if you look at him bat it doesn’t feel like he doesn’t play international cricket anymore.
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“Hats off to him, keeps doing it again and again for us. Such an asset for us. I’ll say this again (smiles). He hasn’t played for five months, just watch that innings”.
DC needed 14 from the final over of the match but fell short even after their skipper, Rishabh Pant’s back-to-back boundaries from the remaining two balls which did not prove to be enough.
Shimron Hetmyer’s unbeaten inning of 53 from 25 deliveries displayed some sensational hitting while batting alongside Pant who remained unbeaten after scoring 58 off 48, however, they could not take their team over the line.
Delhi could only reach 170 for four after 20 overs, thereby losing the thriller match by just a run. The win also helped RCB climb back to the top in the standings and DC went to the fourth position.
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