IPL 2020: De Villiers took RCB to win against KKR.

The influence over the years of Virat Kohli and his batting exploits has been such that he looked up to as the benchmark everywhere he plays. However, there are variations, even while AB de Villiers is the other guy in question even he plays fire on the ice at the other end, it leaves people with something to cheer for. Even what happened on Monday at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium needs to be looked at from the lens of the lofty expectations of Kohli.
On the back of an undefeated 90 which had single-handedly driven his team to a win over Chennai Super Kings, the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain came into the contest. But, Kohli was not his violent self on a Sharjah pitch that seemed to have been sluggish halfway through IPL 2020. His efforts mistimed, and on several occasions, he crossed the line of the ball too.
Still, because of the de Villiers show, things fall perfectly into place for RCB.
As he paced his hits to perfection, circumstances did not matter to de Villiers. Of course, there was a sheer force, and along with it, there would be a perfect sense of discovering the holes on the ground, resulting in a knock beyond chance. De Villiers had held an unblemished 100-run standoff 46 deliveries with Kohli when RCB finished on 194/2 in 20 overs. Of these, 73 were scored in 33 balls by de Villiers.
KKR wanted Andre Russell’s pyro-techniques to come to the surface to match the onslaught of de Villiers. He dropped for 16 when no other teammate was able to gather a good reply because after finishing on 112/9, KKR lost 82 runs. It was also a loud declaration about the standard of this season’s bowling unit at RCB.
However, it was more about de Villiers. As the ball stayed low and clenched, the KKR bowlers held a close leash until the 15th over with RCB touching 111/2. In the final five overs, 83 runs scored because of the South African anarchy unleashed after that.
Until then, Kamlesh Nagarkoti had seemed to be KKR’s best bowler, conceding barely 18 runs in three overs. But the young paceman was shocked with 18 runs scored in his final over as de Villiers reached top gear. As de Villiers reached his third half-century of the 2020 IPL, Pat Cummins and Andre Russell were the next one to struggle.
RCB bowlers took over as KKR batting once again struggled to find form, creating expectations that this could be the year.