AB de Villiers hits 89 from 46 balls to steer Royal Challengers Bangalore to 148/4 against Kings XI Punjab
After missing first two matches for Royal Challengers Bangalore, AB de Villiers scored an unbeaten 89 to steer the home side to 148/4 in 20 overs. RCB lost their captain Shane Watson in the first over and then continued to lose wickets at regular intervals. But with AB in the middle, they managed to set up a defendable total against Kings XI Punjab.
Replacing Chris Gayle, De Villiers had a huge responsibility on his shoulders and to a certain extent he did live up to the expectations as he powered Bangalore from 80/4 to 148/4 in last four overs. His innings of 46-balls featured three boundaries and nine maximums.
Extra Cover: IPL 2017, KXIP vs RCB: Kings XI Punjab win by 8 wickets against RCB
The right-handed batsman struck a boundary off Sandeep Sharma to get off the mark. In first 28-balls he had just scored 31 runs while in the next 18 balls ‘Mr. 360’ smashed 57 runs.
It’s a bird…It’s a plane…It’s an #Abdevilliers SIX!#VIVOIPLonHotstar @RCBTweets @ABdeVilliers17 pic.twitter.com/xprsItmf78
— Hotstar (@hotstartweets) April 10, 2017
https://twitter.com/davidwarner31/status/851466945744355328
After losing first three wickets in just five overs, Mandeep and De Villiers anchored Bangalore’s innings and forged a 80 run stand for the fourth wicket while the later added 80 runs with Stuart Binny for the fifth wicket unbeaten partnership. Mandeep, who took pressure off from AB’s shoulders, was dismissed off Varun Aaron as Wriddhiman Saha took a stunner.
He was returning from a back injury, but seemed far from a man returning from a layoff.
Bangalore lost their 1st match against defending champions Sunrisers Hyderbad by 35 runs but managed to clinch their first home win of the season by defeating Delhi Daredevils by 15 runs.
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