AB de Villiers – a name synonymous with ‘Superman’ in modern day cricket. An excellent amalgamation of elegance, ferocity and wonder.
Moulded by time, he is one of the best batsmen witnessed by the present generation of cricket fans.
The magic he carries in himself is evident from the alteration in the atmosphere of the stadium when he comes out to bat.
Against Kolkata Knight Riders in Match 28 of IPL he went on the rampage and took just 33 balls to score 73 runs. The RCB duo took their time to settle down, converting 1s into 2s before De Villiers’ onslaught in the 16th over – 18 runs off Kamlesh Nagarkoti’s over – swung the momentum in his side’s favour.
He makes you gape at him in awe, he makes you applaud his splendid stroke play. As a bowler you are assessing ways to beat him. But, in the end the world feels sorry for you.
He has dismantled the best of bowling attacks, has played some of the greatest innings that the sport has ever seen, and has given fans unbridled joy.
Trailing of RCB’s total of 194, KKR again changed their batting line up and sent out, Tom Banton, who was making his debut. The debut didn’t go as planned as he was bowled off Navdeep Saini’s bowling in the 4th over. He scored just 8 runs as KKR didn’t get off to the greatest of starts, managing only 23 at the end of four overs.
Nitish Rana was then batting with Shubman Fill. But, the partnership didn’t really kick on as Washington Sundar got rid of Nitish Rana to put KKR in some real trouble.
KKR needed to get 126 runs off the last eight overs and with Andre Russell and Rahul Tripathi at the crease, the Kolkata Knight Riders were in with a chance, although it was doubtless a tough task given at hand.
Washington Sundar took two for 20 from his allotted quota of four overs as KKR could muster only 112/9 on a slow Sharjah wicket, while chasing a daunting target of 195.
“I have been wanting to keep the things simple and hit the hard lengths, again and again, that has been working for me this particular season, I didn’t want to try too many things just because we were playing in Sharjah, this win was very good,” – Washington Sundar.
1/12 by Yuzvendra Chahal. 2/20 by Washington Sundar off 4 overs, respectively. The bowling has been so good in this tournament from them. Picking up wickets at regular intervals, the RCB spinners Washington Sundar and Yuzvendra Chahal were extremely impressive. The fast bowlers also chipped in with crucial wickets and helped RCB script a huge win. An emphatic victory for the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
The bowling figures on the scorecard as a RCB fan were so satisfying to see. RCB have now moved to third place in the IPL points table and are now level on points with table-toppers Mumbai Indians an
