During the third match of the 11th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) between Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, AB de Villiers did not waste much time in doing what he does the best, i.e., tear apart bowling attacks.
De Villiers’ ability to change the course of the match with his mere presence and without consuming too many balls is what makes him a top commodity in this format. Standing tall on his reputation, de Villiers proved it yet again in today’s match.
He came in to bat at No. 4 in the eighth over when Brendon McCullum was dismissed on 43 (27). On his fifth delivery against Kuldeep Yadav, he scored a six over covers. If only it was not enough, the adroit batsman followed it with a six down the wicket.
The next Sunil Narine over saw de Villiers hitting his third six of the night as he played a sweep shot against a carrom ball. de Villiers’ old foe, Mitchell Johnson, too faced the flak as he was hit for a four and a six in the 12th over.
When Nitish Rana was introduced into the attack in the 15th over, de Villiers welcomed him with a six over midwicket. However, in a surprising series of events, Rana got the monumental wicket of de Villiers on the following wicket. Not able to finish RCB’s innings in a way that he would have wanted, ABD ended up scoring 44 (23) with the help of one four and five sixes.
If de Villiers’ wicket wasn’t enough, Rana changed the course of the match by getting the better of Virat Kohli‘s defense on the following delivery. Kohli ended up scoring 31 (33) with the help of one four and one six. Rana, who had picked only four wickets in his 47-match T20 career thus far, must have been delighted to pick the wicket of de Villiers and Kohli as his fifth and sixth dismissal.
After dismissing Virat Rana went furious as he ended up abusing the RCB skipper while giving him the send-off. Despite the fact that he got the wicket of the best batsman in the world, he needs to respect his opponent, no matter what the match situation is. In a recent interview, even Virat said that the Indian players have made a pact that despite having furious IPL games, they will never disrespect their opinion, but this time, Rana has surely crossed the line.
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