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Virat Kohli left stunned by AB De Villiers’ innovative shot selection against DD
Virat Kohli was left spellbound by AB De Villiers’ brilliant performance which guided Royal Challengers Bangalore to victory over Delhi Daredevils in the IPL 2018 match on Saturday
There are only a handful of days when AB de Villiers fails to surprise his fans. Known as Mr 360, De Villiers has a wide array of shots to choose from every time he faces a bowler with the latter unsure of what would be a safe area to land the cherry.
On Saturday, too, de Villiers produced a gem of an innings, a 37-ball 72 that helped his side Royal Challengers Bangalore scale the 182-run target against Delhi Daredevils at ease. Studded with six sixes and four shots to the fence, De Villiers was mesmerizing to watch.
READ | IPL 2018: Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers steer Royal Challengers Bangalore to win vs Delhi Daredevils
It was one of De Villiers’s shots, which even left Virat Kohli stumped at the dugout after he had departed scoring a modest 40-ball 70. With nine runs required off the last 11 balls, the South African launched Trent Boult for a gigantic six over the long-leg boundary.
Although the delivery was wide off the off stump, it wasn’t particularly a bad delivery. All that Boult aimed was to keep the ball away from the zone of De Villiers. However, De Villiers shifts his stance even at the last moment, which allows him to make room for himself and he did so even on this occasion.
No sooner had Boult released the delivery that De Villiers made a huge lunge towards his right with his foot touching the wide line on the off-stump from a third wicket stance. He then bent a bit and used the full width delivery to guide the delivery towards the long leg fence. Owing to the pace at which Boult had released the delivery, De Villiers simply placed it to perfection to notch up six runs.
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Kohli, who had anchored his side’s recovery after they were 18 for the loss of two wickets inside the opening three overs, was simply ecstatic with the manner in which De Villiers had executed his shot and was awestruck as the ball travelled the distance.
However, while Bangalore did win last night, they’re far from qualifying for a play-off spot and need to win all their remaining fixtures while hoping the other teams produce results that help them in the net run rate tally. Sunrisers Hyderabad are the only side to qualify for the play-offs so far and lead the table with 18 poi
