The Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore has been a host to some absolutely high scoring games, and the encounter between the hosts and Sunrisers Hyderabad was just another such instance. The Virat Kohli-led Bangalore outfit couldn’t have asked for a better start, as the Royal Challengers batsmen were simply unstoppable.
Despite losing Chris Gayle early, the hosts went on to make a mammoth 227-4 in 20 overs. It was the second wicket stand between Kohli and De Villiers which stole the show and made it an entertaining evening. The 157 run stand thrilled all the spectators as Kohli and De Villiers went all guns blazing. Young Sarfaraz Khan too had a memorable outing as his 10 balls 35 cameos was full of innovative shots.
The Royal Challengers won the game by 45 runs and De Villiers was named the Man of the Match for his efforts. “Absolutely love playing here. The crowd always gets behind us. Pleasure batting with Virat and enjoyed myself. We love running between the wickets. I love batting at 3 and gives me time to read the game,” said De Villiers about his batting.
He admitted that his form leading up to the IPL wasn’t too good as he said, “I have been scratchy in the last few weeks, even in the nets I felt horrible. It comes down to what you do in the middle. The bowlers have played together for quite a few years. One or two guys, a guy like Shane Watson coming in and Milne, who has been injured for the last 2 years. All of a sudden it looks like a very good combination of youth and experience. Some very good signs for this season,” said De Villiers.
Skipper Virat Kohli said that he was happy with the result, and in particular, praised off-spinner Parvez Rasool for his efforts. “We lost the toss. Didn’t get to do what we wanted, see how the wicket played out,” said Kohli. “But it was a good effort to get close to 230. Bowlers did a very good job after they got off to a good start. Watson has that experience in the middle, and Warner’s wicket helped. Rasool is a deceptive bowler, we saw in the nets that he was troubling the batters. His trajectory of the ball is such that he can fox the batsman with a change of pace. Parvez was the standout bowler for me today,” Kohli added.