AB de Villiers played an unbeaten knock of 75 runs off 42 balls as Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) posted 171/5 against Delhi Capitals (DC) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Tuesday. With his knock, De Villiers also became the second overseas cricketer to reach 5000 runs in the IPL. The South African received plenty of praise on social media for his brilliant batting display, and in particular from SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) captain David Warner. It is worth noting that the Australian cricketer is the only other foreign player to score more than 5,000 runs in the lucrative tournament.
Taking to Twitter, Warner wrote, "Legend @ABdeVilliers17 my idol".
De Villiers' swashbuckling knock helped RCB score 171 for five in 20 overs. The South African was at his fluent best, smashing three fours and five sixes during his powerful.
Rajat Patidar and Glenn Maxwell also made noteworthy contributions for Virat Kohli's side scoring 31 and 25 runs respectively.
After RCB's innings, proceedings were also temporarily halted due to a sandstorm. RCB even took to Twitter to joke that De Villiers' fire power led to the sandstorm.
Here are some fan reactions:
Delhi could only reach 170 for four in 20 overs, thereby losing by a run. The win also helped RCB climb back to position in the standings and DC went to fourth position.