Mumbai: If a powerful man – with a navy blue outfit (‘S’ engraved) – flies in the air, he becomes an American cultural icon, known as Superman. If another man, with a cricket bat in hand, makes the ball fly all around, he becomes AB de Villiers – a modern day legend in his own right.
. @ABdeVilliers17 gets the big man @henrygayle standing - @RCBTweets #IPL https://t.co/Q6BCEL5KCs
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 10, 2015
Riding on the man of steel’s unbeaten 133 off 59 balls (4X19, 6X4), Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) stopped Mumbai Indians’(MI) winning streak here, by 39 runs, at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday, and at the same time have moved to fourth position in the points table.
Demolition Complete - @ABdeVilliers17 & @ImVkohli @RCBTweets #MIvsRCB #IPL https://t.co/AKIIFtTCpm
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 10, 2015
Chasing an impossible 236 for victory, MI lost opener Parthiv Patel (19) upfront who was looking good. Virat Kohli’s accurate throw to Dinesh Karthik ran the southpaw out.
Lendl Simmons, who has been phenomenal on the field, kept looking for gaps but could not pace the innings according to the required rate. Though he reached his half-century and remained unbeaten on 68 off 53 balls, his presence wasn’t speedy enough to guide MI home.
Skipper Rohit Sharma (15), who came first down, made his intentions clear and Kohli’s field placements trapped the right-hander. After sweeping a ball over square-leg for a four and then pulling one for a six off David Wiese, Sharma failed to pick the slower one from Harshal Patel.
Though he tried sending it beyond the rope but it could only reach till the deep where Mandeep Singh was stationed. Kieron Pollard (49) provided hope for the home side when he was taking on every MI bowler. Having faced only 23 balls, he was one short of his half-century after flicking Sreenath Aravind on his pads.
Watch: Ravi Shastri in a hurry to grab a drink?
Aravind took up the challenge and invited the big man for another go where Pollard found a leading edge. Mitchell Starc caught him at deep cover. The West Indian slammed six fours and two sixes.
Earlier, RCB had a shaky start but were lucky on two occasions. MI dropped two back-to-back catches off Mitchell McClenaghan’s over. While Sharma dropped Chris Gayle on 12, Harbhajan Singh failed to grab skipper Kohli. He was batting on 6.
Nonetheless, Lasith Malinga – who missed the last match – picked up Gayle (13) soon. Lendl Simmons pulled off another stunner of a catch diving to his left. But such is the RCB line-up that one star clears the path for the other.
Is Simmons the most underrated fielder ? #MIvsRCB #IPL - @mipaltan https://t.co/FBvDasbaF7
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 10, 2015
Amidst loud cheers of “Mumbai! Mumbai!” AB walked in quietly. When he faced the first two or three deliveries, he, in fact, looked wobbly. But the two boundaries off Jagadeesha Suchith in the sixth over sharpened the script he was penning in his mind.
AB went back to make room and lofted a slower delivery towards the off with an inside-out drive to beat the infield on the first ball. After having gained confidence, he came down the track to send the next ball for a boundary over mid on.
With Kohli anchoring the innings from the other end, AB gradually broke free. The next bowler who had the chance to taste AB’s brilliance was none other than out-of-favour India spinner Harbhajan Singh. What was turning out to be an economical over with only five runs being conceded turned out to be costly. AB snatched a four and a six off the last two balls. He took the last ball full and did not even let it spin.
However, MI’s new found hero Hardik Pandya surrendered to AB’s class and the Friday hero became a dud. He gave away 51 runs in his three overs. Even with the bat, he scored only 8 runs.
Kohli, like a captain, kept stitching the innings and stuck around to support AB’s fireworks. Towards the end of the innings, Kohli increased his pace and raced away to 82 off 50 balls (4X6, 6X4).
Watch: Lendl Simmons’ screamers and other brilliant catches in IPL 8
The duo together put up 215 runs for the second wicket – the highest partnership so far for any wicket – in the IPL.
*(Photos: BCCI)
