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'De Villiers's knock is one of the best in T20'
Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli described team-mate AB de Villiers's stunning match-winning 89 not out off just 41 balls against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Sunday night's IPL match as one of the best he's seen in Twenty20 cricket.
He also rated de Villiers, who hit six fours and eight sixes during his knock, as the best player in the shorter formats.
"He (AB) is the best player in the world by far. He has shown it every now and then, and he has shown it again today why he is rated the number one in the world in any format. It was one of the best innings in T20 I have seen," said Kohli, in awe of his team-mate after Bangalore beat Hyderabad by four wicket in a dramatic match.
"Today was one of the days we needed someone to win the game from that tough situation. The way de Villiers was striking the ball under pressure, it was just amazing.
"We thought it was a below-par score in Bangalore. Generally, you get 170. Chris Gayle got us to a decent start, but the way AB played it was incredible. He took the game away from the opposition," Kohli said.
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'You cannot help it when someone produces a great knock'
Hyderabad captain Shikhar Dhawan said any side could have done little with an opposition player coming up with an innings like that of De Villiers.
"You cannot help it when someone produces a great knock. Unfortunately, we missed the half chance AB offered at point and he took it away after that.
"We felt we were 10-15 runs short," Dhawan rued, referring to the tough catching chance Karn Sharma failed to hold on to in the 14th over, when De Villiers was on 32.
"We started off well as a bowling unit, but AB played amazingly. Karn Sharma bowled well, he got their two main left-handers out."
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'Yuvraj kept boosting me up tonight'
Man of the Match de Villiers said it was one of those nights when things went his way.
"I had a Skype session with my mom and dad today, and my dad said the others are lucky. Guess I had my luck today," he said.
When told that his South African compatriot Dale Steyn (0-39), whom he destroyed, described his innings as a "different class", de Villiers replied: "He (Steyn) won the first set and I won the second. I would have loved to have a third set against him.
"In those kinds of situations it is the small things that matter the most. It is team spirit!
"Such things matter in the end. Yuvraj kept boosting me up tonight; got to give credit to him."