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If Virat can't, AB will take you home

AB de Villiers surely ranks amongst the deadliest T20 cricketers in the world. (AP Photo/Theron Kirkman)
Roar Guru
25th May, 2016
3

That is exactly what we saw in Bengaluru when RCB took against the Gujarat Lions in the IPL qualifier, with the winning team ensuring a spot in the Sunday’s final.

The entire batting line-up collapsed miraculously against Dhawal Kulkarni and were tottering on the edge at 29 for 5 before Stuart Binny joined De Villiers to rescue the ship. They guided them to 68 with Binny contributing as much as De Villiers in the foundation to recovery. But when he got out, many felt De Villiers would stand as a forlorn warrior amid the collapse.

However the plot had more twists to it. Iqbal Abdulla arrived to the crease to bat for the first time this season and along with the Maestro waded along. The game was virtually decided when Dwayne Smith, the half-centurion, came onto bowl and De Villiers nearly found himself lofting a half volley to Aaron Finch on the boundary cushions, which somehow went out of Finch’s grasp to crack a sigh of relief in the Chinnaswamy stadium. Smith was taken apart with another four as De Villiers took fourteen from the over.

From thereon, RCB looked in cruise mode, leaving Shadab Jakati hammered in three overs, which yielded forty-five. Abdulla joined the fray getting three successive boundaries off Pravin Kumar to leave the equation three needed of the last two.

De Villiers who was on 78 decided to give Abdulla the final shot to finish the game with a single off the first ball, only to see the latter obliging him with a nice jab for two.

Virat Kohli who had been wearing a forlorn face for the initial half of their batting blazed out of the dugout with his teammates and nearly rocked De Villiers head with a bumper splash upon the South African.

Joy was unconfined as RCB made it to their first final in five years.

Kohli who was riding a red-hot form in the league phase stammered to an unexpected jolt in the qualifier only to see ‘the bigger man’ stepping up to ‘the big game’ .

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Kohli has amassed 919 runs in fifteen matches and with another 81 in the final, he can definitely break the 1000 run personal barrier.

As for De Villiers he still has not made 700 runs and stand way below than his skipper but hardly anyone can doubt his big-match skills and single-handed prowess.

De Villiers hammered Dale Steyn in 2011 and extracted 23 runs off another Steyn over in 2013 to secure an unlikely win from 48-4 to chase down 159.

So for Bangalore fans even if their poster boy fails too see them home in the final, don’t leave the Chinnaswamy until De Villiers rock and rolls RCB to victory.

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