AB de Villiers made a stunning comeback, scoring 89 off only 46 balls to help Royal Challengers Bangalore recover from a shaky start and put up a respectable total of 148 for four against Kings XI Punjab in Indore.
The runners-up of last year went off to a poor start with Shane Watson making his way back after scoring just one. Vishnu Vinod (7) and Kedar Jadhav’s (1) failures with the bat only made the matters worse for the Bangalore-based outfit before a 46-run stand between de Villiers and Mandeep Singh steadied the ship.
However, the poor scoring run-rate was not helping their cause. They were scoring at less than 6 runs per over when Mandeep Singh was dismissed by Varun Aaron in the 14th over.
Although, de Villiers held firm from one end and unleashed his wide array of shots in the last three overs to guide his team to a challenging total. After scoring his half-century with a six on the last ball of the 17th over, de Villiers clobbered Mohit Sharma for two sixes and a four in the 18th over.
In the penultimate over which was bowled by Sandeep Sharma, the Protea star once again hit two maximums and a four before hitting two sixes off the last two balls of the innings to end the innings on a high. De Villiers’ 89 runs knock was studded with three fours and nine sixes.
Here are some of the best reactions from the fans:
Boooooom seriously amazing striking @ABdeVilliers17 best in the business ??
— David Warner (@davidwarner31) April 10, 2017
https://twitter.com/choubeysatya/status/851461268326072323
You know RCB is doomed in this match when ABD comes to bat in 4th over and plays only 30 balls till 16th over. Let the master handle it ffs!
— LOLendra Singh (@LOLendraSingh) April 10, 2017
ABdV has sent one outdoor in indore #KXIPvRCB
— Gaurav Kalra (@gauravkalra75) April 10, 2017
AB gets down on one knee and steers a wide yorker behind point for four #LIKEABOSS! #KXIPvRCB #PlayBold
— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) April 10, 2017
So @ABdeVilliers17 is pure ????
— Huma S Qureshi (@humasqureshi) April 10, 2017
On the pitch when everyone struggled AB De Villiers smashed 34 balls half century and this his first game in this season…
— Broken Cricket (@BrokenCricket) April 10, 2017
https://twitter.com/CricketDevotee/status/851439627500228608
I thought I got lucky,saw a shooting star but it was @ABdeVilliers17 sixer! One man,many responsibilities and he aces them all! ???#RCBvKXIP
— Dhage Yash (@DhageYash) April 10, 2017
indore crowd need reminding ABdV is in the opposition team!! #KXIPvRCB
— Gaurav Kalra (@gauravkalra75) April 10, 2017
AB De Villiers should be nicknamed "ABCD" that is, AB Can Do Anything.#KXIPvRCB
— Rajiv Arora (@Evildoer139) April 10, 2017
We even can't hit a mosquito in that way like #ABDevilliers hit his shots.
— Godman Chikna (@Madan_Chikna) April 10, 2017
Best of all, AB de Villiers never hits the ball with anger, it's all love, whole lotta love, bat and ball making love.#KXIPvRCB
— Gaurav Sethi (@BoredCricket) April 10, 2017
https://twitter.com/mithun_twitts/status/851471405937967104
Kid:AB de Villiers
Adult: AB de Villiers
Legend: Shut the fuck up. It's Abraham Benjamin de Villiers— Rahul (@anpadhCS) April 10, 2017
I had heard all illegal slaughter houses are closed,then how come AB de villiers is roaming free.What a player !#IPL
— Rohit Srivastava (@iam19rohit) April 10, 2017