IPL 7: AB de Villiers' Sensational Knock Propels Royal Challengers Bangalore to Thrilling Win

AB de Villiers produced one of the most devastating Twenty20 innings as he smashed an unbeaten 89 from just 42 balls as Royal Challengers Bangalore pulled off a sensational four-wicket victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad in a dramatic IPL match here on Sunday. (Scorecard | Highlights)

 

De Villiers butchered Hyderabad bowlers with six fours and eight sixes as he single-handedly took Bangalore to victory after Bangalore suffered early jolts after fine bowling show by Karn Sharma (3/17) and  Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2/16).

Chasing a target of 156, 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.

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 and hammered Steyn for 24 runs in the 19th over with three scintillating sixes and a four, which turned the tables against Hyderabad, leaving the home side just four runs to score in the last over bowled 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 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.