‘Once a genius, always a genius’: Virender Sehwag in awe of AB de Villiers after he powers RCB to victory vs Rajasthan Royals

AB de Villiers: The former South African captain yet again proved as to why he is one of the best in the business in the T20 format.

During the 33rd match of the ongoing 13th season of the Indian Premier League between Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore in Dubai, Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Rajasthan Royals 7 wickets in a stellar chase.

Chasing a 178-run target, Bangalore got off to a decent start on the back of scoring 47/1 in the powerplay. A 79-run partnership between opening batsman Devdutt Paddikal (35) and captain Virat Kohli (43) carried Bangalore closer to the target but also witnessed a rise in the required run rate.

With both of them getting out on consecutive deliveries, Royal Challengers needed 76 runs off 41 deliveries with two new batsmen in the middle.

What followed was a match-winning 77-run partnership between AB de Villiers and Gurkeerat Singh Mann (19*) which aided Royal Challengers to seal the chase in the last over. Needing 35 runs in the last two overs, an archetype innings from de Villiers saw him scoring three consecutive sixes off Rajasthan’s Jaydev Unadkat to turn the tables.

Having scored his 37th IPL half-century, the 36-year old batsman scored 55* (22) with the help of one four and six sixes.

Winning the toss and electing to bat, Rajasthan captain Steven Smith led from the front to score 57 (36) with the help of six fours and a six. For RCB, all-rounder Chris Morris registered brilliant bowling figures of 4-0-26-2.

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