RCB's AB de Villiers takes a blinder to dismiss Alex Hales (Image: IPL)
The South African genius AB de Villiers always brings something extra to the table, and on Thursday evening he lit up the Chinnaswamy Stadium during a thrilling match with a blinder of a catch to dismiss the Englishman Alex Hales of the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 8th over during their chase of 219.
SRH needed to get a move on from the word go, and Alex Hales along with Shikhar Dhawan were doing just that. Dhawan was the first to be dismissed while, Hales was sent packing by the combination of Ab de Villiers and Moeen Ali at the end of the 8th over of the innings with the score reading 64.
Looking to up the ante, Hales clattered one on the leg-side off Moeen Ali, but De Villiers stationed at deep mid-wicket, leaped and was airborne as he caught the ball with only his right hand to complete a sensational catch and dismiss the opener for 37.
So good was the effort that it left captain Virat Kohli in as much awe as the rest present at the stadium. After the match, Kohli said, “That was spiderman stuff (about ABD’s catch). You don’t do that as normal human beings. I thought it was going for a six but he pulled it off. He can do freakish things but I am used to it now. His fielding I am pretty used to now. Need to thank the crowd as it is our last home game.”
Before the situation demanded a catch like that from AB, the RCB rode the South African’s half century along with another half century from the Englishman Moeen Ali to post an imposing 218 in their 20 overs. RCB, who needed to win the game to stay in contention for the knock-out stages, eventually managed to stop the SRH 14 runs short of their target after Kane Williamson and Manish Pandey threatened to complete the chase and end the RCB’s season.
With the win against the SRH, RCB have now moved up to fifth spot on the IPL table and will be looking to win their remaining games and seal qualification for the knock-out stages.
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