AB de Villiers smashed an unbeaten 89 from just 41 balls as Royal Challengers Bangalore pulled off a sensational four-wicket victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad in a dramatic IPL match
RCB's AB de Villiers slams one en route his 41-ball 89 against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Bangalore yesterday. Pic/PTI
Bangalore: AB de Villiers smashed an unbeaten 89 from just 41 balls as Royal Challengers Bangalore pulled off a sensational four-wicket victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad in a dramatic IPL match yesterday.
RCB's AB de Villiers slams one en route his 41-ball 89 against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Bangalore yesterday. Pic/PTI
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De Villiers butchered the Hyderabad bowlers with six fours and eight sixes as he single-handedly took Bangalore to victory after the hosts suffered early jolts thanks to a fine bowling show by Karn Sharma (3-17) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2-16).
RCB lose early wickets
Chasing 156 for six, Bangalore seemingly lost the plot as they were reduced to 59 for four in the 11th over and then were down 95 for five when Yuvraj Singh (14) was out, needing 61 from 5.3 overs.
But de Villiers took on from there and played a memorable innings to take Bangalore to 158 for six with one ball to spare. He stitched 57 runs for the sixth wicket with Mitchell Starc, who could score just five.
Dale Steyn demolished
In the process, de Villiers dented the reputation of his South African compatriot fast bowler Dale Steyn, who bled 39 runs without a wicket in his four overs.
Bangalore needed 28 runs runs off last two overs and de Villiers came into the act, hammering Steyn for 24 runs in the 19th over with three scintillating sixes and a four, to turn the tables against Hyderabad, leaving the home side just four runs to score in the last over bowled by Pathan.
Fittingly, de Villiers hit the winning runs, a four off Pathan, to take Bangalore to their first victory at home in IPL-7 in front of a wildly cheering crowd at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
This was Bangalore's third win in IPL 7 and they are now at the fourth spot with six points from six matches.
Earlier, David Warner top-scored for SRH with a 49-ball 61 as the visitors posted a challenging 155 for six.
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