IPL 2012: De Villiers Brilliance Scripts Bangalore Victory

IPL 2012: De Villiers Brilliance Scripts Bangalore Victory

AB de Villiers struck some fearsome blows to drive Bangalore to victory

©REUTERS / Action Images

Royal Challengers Bangalore beat
Deccan Chargers by five wickets
Indian Premier League 2012, Bangalore
Scorecard

AB de Villiers produced an outstanding match-winning innings to guide the Royal Challengers Bangalore to a vital Indian Premier League 2012 win.

In a second action-packed game on Sunday, they beat the Deccan Chargers by five wickets and winning their home game now means that the Challengers are fifth in the league table, equal on points with Chennai Super Kings who lost earlier in the day, but with one game in hand.

Bangalore won the toss and put the Chargers into bat. They made good on this opportunity as Shikhar Dhawan and his new opening partner Daniel Harris gave them a great start. They added 86 for the first wicket in only 11.5 overs. Harris was run-out in the 12th over, having made 47 runs off 41 balls, with two fours and four sixes.

Dhawan was more circumspect in his approach, accumulating the runs and playing a longer innings. His approach paid off as he completed his half-century and was unbeaten at the end. He eventually scored 73 runs off 52 balls and hit ten fours as well as one six.

He was given good company by Cameron White who nearly scored another half-century, the Australian scored 45 off only 24 balls, inclusive of two fours and three sixes, as the last six overs of the Chargers' innings brought them 76 runs. They eventually finished their innings at 181 for two, a sizeable target any day.

In reply, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Chris Gayle went one better, racking up 91 runs for the first wicket. It seemed a lost cause again for Deccan as they put together the runs in only 64 balls. Dilshan was the more aggressive of the two, scoring 71 runs off 54 balls. He hit eight fours and two sixes, while Gayle also hit two sixes but just the one four. Gayle was bowled for 26 off 22 balls in the 11th over and it looked as if it would be the turning point for the innings.

Wickets started tumbling at the other end and the scoring rate dipped. Virat Kohli was out for just nine runs and when Dilshan was out in the 16th over, they had lost four wickets for only 26 runs. Bangalore had gone from 91 for no loss to 117 for four, but that is when Mayank Agarwal and de Villiers came together.

With four overs to, they still needed 52 runs for victory. And the two batsmen at the crease made it seem like child’s play.

Agarwal made 18 off six balls but the real damage was done by de Villiers. In a display of gruesome hitting, he smacked 47 runs off a mere 17 balls, hitting five fours and three sixes, as Bangalore won with an unbelievable seven balls to spare.

© Cricket World 2012