AB de Villiers praises Gayle and Dilshan for win over Deccan

AB de Villiers scooped ‘Man of the Match’ award for his match-winning performance against Deccan Chargers, but the South African said that it was an all-round team effort that guided Royal Challengers Bangalore to victory.

In the 50^th Indian Premier League (IPL) match on Sunday, the Royal Challengers thrashed Deccan Chargers by five wickets.

Batting first, the Chargers posted a handsome total of 181 on the board, thanks to brilliant batting by the top-order batsmen. Daniel Harris and Cameron White added 40-odd runs each while Shikhar Dhawan played a magnificent knock of 73 runs.

In reply, Tillakaratene Dilshan started off things in great fashion, smashing an aggressive innings of 76 runs. Chris Gayle supported his partner well and added crucial 26 runs to the total. Both openers provided their side a wonderful start by piling up
91 runs for the first-wicket-stand.

Although the home side lost a few quick wickets after that, De Villiers brought things back to normal, scoring rapid 17-ball 47. Not taking anything away from his openers, De Villiers heaped praise on Gayle and Dilshan for their wonderful work with the bat.

"We have collapsed a few times in the IPL before. So we needed our openers to build a foundation to launch a blitz right at the end, which they did, and luckily I was there in the end to do the job," he said.

He added, "Some of the players around me played amazing knocks. Mayank, above all, pushed the button by hitting two sixes and a boundary. He took risks even before I did. His knock set the game perfectly for me to finish it off."

The wicket-keeper batsman hit Dale Steyn for 23 runs in the 18^th over of the game and it was considered as turning point of the match.

On his brilliant batting against the compatriot fast bowler, he stated, "Luckily I heard Sangakkara communicating to Steyn to bowl short of length at me, and I manoeuvred my stroke accordingly. From then on I knew Dale would bowl fuller and played my strokes
in anticipation"

“However, Steyn is a world-class player and could have knocked me over at any moment, but it wasn’t quite the night tailored for him. It was my night and I did it to perfection.”

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Posted by Rana Nasir Ghafoor on May 7 2012. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry