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IPL PHOTOS: De Villiers storm sinks Sunrisers
A brilliant 42-ball 89 from AB de Villiers helped Royal Challengers pull off a sensational four-wicket victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL match in Bangalore on Sunday.
Chasing 156 runs for victory, Royal Challengers were off to a poor start, as Bhuvneshwar Kumar dismissed opener Parthiv Patel and Virat Kohli in the second over.
Karn Sharma then sent back Chris Gayle and Rilee Rossouw, and when Yuvraj Singh departed, RCB were reeling at 95-5.
However, De Villiers took everyone by surprise with a counterpunch on the Sunrisers’ bowlers.
He plundered 24 runs off Dale Steyn’s penultimate over and killed the contest.
Needing four runs for victory, De Villiers finished the game with a boundary off Irfan Pathan.
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Starc removes Finch early
Mitchell Starc provided the early breakthrough for RCB after they won the toss and invited Sunrisers to bat first.
Aaron Finch, who looked threatening with a six and boundary off Ashoke Dinda, didn’t last long as he was undone by a short one from Starc.
K L Rahul, promoted up the order, played couple of good shorts before playing a loose one off Dinda that had him walking back.
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Warner, Dhawan steady Sunrisers' innings
Shikhar Dhawan, who had been struggling in the IPL, put his head down and stitched a crucial 62-run stand for third wicket with David Warner.
Warner looked the most fluent off the two as he slapped Varun Aaron past cover for his first boundary.
Dhawan then cut Aaron as he showed glimpses of his old form. But just as he was looking for a longer stay in the middle, Aaron had his revenge by bowling a short one and had the batsman easily taken by AB de Villiers at deep mid-wicket.
Darren Sammy did hit a six but did nit last long as he was fooled by a slower one from Harshal Patel and was caught by Starc at midwicket.
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Warner 50 helps Sunrisers cross the 150 mark
Warner continued his shot-making and was severe on young leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal and Dinda.
Two sixes off Dinda brought up his half-century in 43 balls. He was pivotal in helping Sunrisers regain lost ground in the middle overs before Starc finally had him in the final over off the innings for 61.
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Bhuvneshwar strikes early for Sunrisers
Bhuvneshwar Kumar struck early in the chase.
First he sent back consistent opener Parthiv Patel after the left-hander played one back onto his stumps.
He then had skipper Virat Kohli walking back in the same over.
Kohli went for an expansive drive, only to edge it to Naman Ojha behind the stumps.
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Karn Sharma dents RCB badly
Chris Gayle, who had been sedate in the tournament so far, exploded on Ishant Sharma, taking 16 runs off his first over.
But he threw his wicket away, caught at deep mid-wicket by Darren Sammy for 27.
Rilee Rossouw, who was brought in for this match, too couldn’t last long as he caught in front of the stumps off Karn.
The leg-spinner had RCB reeling when he sent Yuvraj Singh back in the hut for 14.
Yuvraj, who had hit Karn for a six earlier in the over, got greedy a looked to slog sweep one, only to be caught by Henriques.
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De Villiers storm in Bangalore
De Villiers snapped from that moment and hit the Sunrisers bowlers to all corners.
Darren Sammy and Dale Steyn felt the wrath of de Villiers’ onslaught as the South African plundered 19 and 24 runs respectively off them.
De Villiers reached his half-century off 23 balls, with two fours and five sixes at that time.
He reverse swept Bhuvneshwar for twin boundaries before taking on Steyn.
Such was the onslaught that at the end of his over, Steyn was seen clapping at the champion batsmen.
De Villers finished the game off with a boundary off Irfan Pathan.