During the 24th match of the 11th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at Bengaluru, Royal Challengers Bangalore’s AB de Villiers clobbered his 25th IPL half-century in a manner for which he is renowned.
After Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and put Royal Challengers Bangalore in to bat, the home team lost Virat Kohli (18) in the fifth over. However, Kohli’s dismissal brought de Villiers on the ground who went berserk from the word go.
In only the following over, de Villiers hit a couple of sixes and a four off Harbhajan Singh to get things going in the middle. One could sense it from his short-making that he is due to play a special knock tonight. In the next over, the seventh of the innings, Ravindra Jadeja was called in to bowl his first over. On the third delivery, ABD went down on one knee to deposit the ball in the stands behind the deep square leg fielder.
In the 11th over, he took on his South African teammate, Imran Tahir, as he hit for 19 runs, including one four and two sixes. In the following over, Dhoni replaced Tahir with Shardul Thakur. However, ABD treated him equally, scoring three consecutive sixes. It was after the first six that de Villiers completed his 25th IPL half-century, off 23 balls.
de Villiers assault was brought to an end by Tahir when he mistimed a Tahir delivery to Sam Billings at sweeper cover. He ended up scoring 68 (30) with the help of two fours and eight sixes. Watch how Twitter reacted towards his knock:
I sense a strategy here, give Imran Tahir wickets … let him run around the ground, tire him, and then smack him 🏆👍 #RCBvCSK
— Danish Sait (@DanishSait) April 25, 2018
Delight to watch @ABdeVilliers17 in full flow ! #RCBvCSK 🏏 undoubtedly one of my favourite players..
— Ranveer Singh (@RanveerOfficial) April 25, 2018
This season for @RCBTweets – AB de Villiers
dots: 33
1s: 54
2s: 6
4s: 14
6s: 15
Balls 122
Runs: 212
—
Dot%: 27.05
1-3%: 49.18
4-6s%: 23.77
Will he #ReinventYourGame tonight?#RCBvCSK— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) April 25, 2018
The @RCBTweets in their five games this year on an average has made 51-2 wickets during their Powerplay, while CSK bowlers have been conceding 51-2 during their bowling powerplay!
Who will #ReinventYourGame tonight in the South Indian Derby?#RCBvCSK— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) April 25, 2018
Stop whining, CSK fanatics. No flags except National flag is allowed in the Chinnaswamy stadium. It’s been like that since years. It’s alright.. shit is going to seem a bit new for you guys for a while, coming back after 2 years after all. #RCBvCSK
— samreen (@SamreenRazzaqui) April 25, 2018
And who else is excited about the #RCBvCSK this evening? Holler if you are at Chinnaswamy this evening 🙂
— Nakuul Mehta (@NakuulMehta) April 25, 2018
Thank you CSK fans for creating a Karnataka flag pattern at Chinnaswamy. Wouldn't have happened without your support! 😛😀 #RCBvCSK
— Rakshith Ponnathpur (@rsponnathpur) April 25, 2018
This pic from Nasa Space shuttle capturing that six by ABD going towards mars #RCBvCSK pic.twitter.com/2vZCGB3fFl
— RCBian SJ🇮🇳 (@RealSheetal) April 25, 2018
Imran Tahir almost went to ABD's family in South Africa to say maine aapke ladke ko out kar diya. #RCBvCSK
— Rofl Gandhi (@RoflGandhi_) April 25, 2018
