A B de Villiers smashed an unbeaten half-century as Royal Challengers Bangalore escaped with a narrow victory over Delhi Capitals in the IPL game in Ahmedabad on Tuesday, April 27, 2021.
Mr 360 blasted an entertaining 75 from 42 balls to rally RCB after early wickets to 171/5. In reply, Delhi Capitals fought till the end, courtesy fifties from Shimron Hetmyer and Rishabh Pant before falling short by just one run.
De Villiers was single-handedly responsible for the victory as he once again rescued RCB with his brilliant batting in the death overs.
He walked out to bat with RCB on 60/3 in the ninth over after Glenn Maxwell had fallen for 25, and Openers Virat Kohli (12) and Devdutt Padikkal (17) had perished cheaply.
RCB looked set for a below-par total as they were struggling on 128/4 in 17 overs before de Villiers changed the course of the innings with a perfectly-timed assault at the end.
He targeted Delhi's best bowler, Kagiso Rabada, for a six over midwicket before pulling Avesh Khan for a four to race to fifty from 36 balls.
Stoinis started off with a wide before he was hit for three sixes by de Villiers, who ripped him apart in the final over.
The Australian made the mistake of bowling it full to de Villiers, who smashed it straight down the ground for a six before pulling the fourth ball over fine leg for the same result. He carved the next ball over the off-side for the third six of the over as Delhi suffered big time with Stoinis conceding 23 runs in the final over.
De Villiers's superb innings had five sixes and three fours. During the course of his innings, he became the sixth batsman overall to go past 5,000 runs in the IPL.
He is only the second overseas batsman after David Warner to reach the landmark, having got there in his 161st innings -- the third fastest to complete 5,000 runs in the IPL.
