AB De Villiers got those jaws dropping to the ground with an innings that can only be described with every single adjective in the dictionary, but the Kings XI Punjab overcame the ABD special to trump the Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL 2017 Match 8 in Indore on Monday.
Coming back from a back injury and replacing Chris Gayle in the playing XI, much was expected from De Villiers, and boy did he deliver, scoring a ridiculous, not-from-this-world 89 off 46 balls, with three fours and nine sixes, to take RCB to 148/4 in their 20 overs.
Watch the highlights of De Villiers' innings
While the wicket wasn't a batting beauty, the Kings XI Punjab, led by another South African in Hashim Amla and their skipper Glenn Maxwell, eased home with very little fuss.
The first six overs were going to be the key for both KXIP and RCB. The Royal Challengers needed wickets and Kings XI had to make sure they didn't lost too many.
It was KXIP that won that particular battle, with Hashim Amla and Manan Vohra (34, 21b, 4x4, 1x6) adding 62 runs in exactly six overs, with the latter falling off the last ball of the Powerplay, trapped right in front by Tymal Mills' slower ball.
That partnership meant Kings XI would get to their target as long as they played smart cricket, and with a calm head like Amla (58 n.o., 38b, 4x4, 3x6) at one end, and the belligerence and six-hitting ability of Maxwell (43 n.o., 22b, 3x4, 4x6) at the other, that was never going to be a problem.
De Villiers was the only reason that RCB got anywhere near a respectable score.
If not for the South African, RCB would probably have folded up for a score below 120 and KXIP would have had an even easier cruise.
Whenever a team loses three wickets in the Powerplay, they invariably end up losing, and that was the case with RCB this time.
Shane Watson (1, 4b), opening the innings again, fell in the first over, playing one on off Axar Patel, who had a brilliant four overs, conceding just 12 runs.
Vishnu Vinod (7, 12b, 1x4), Watson's opening partner, never really looked settled in the middle, and soon enough, he was walking back as well after holing out at long-on off Sandeep Sharma.
RCB needed a big partnership from De Villiers and their best batsman so far in IPL 2017 – Kedar Jadhav (1, 4b). Unfortunately, though, Jadhav was given out lbw off the bowling of Varun Aaron, a little unluckily, with the tracker showing the ball would have gone over the stumps.
Those three wickets in the first five overs meant, De Villiers had to play the waiting game, make sure he kept his wicket intact and then hope for the best in the final overs.
Mandeep Singh stuck around with his senior partner, with the two batsmen staying at the crease for 8.1 overs and 46 runs.
Once Mandeep fell, Stuart Binny (18 n.o., 20b, 1x4, 1x6) came in, and apart from a couple of balls when he hit a six and a four, he watched from the other end as De Villiers went crazy.
After over number 16, RCB were on 80, and looking like they would be lucky to get to 120. But then, from nowhere, De Villiers decided to go into God mode.
A couple of sixes came off the Marcus Stoinis over, and then it just kept coming as De Villiers lit up the Holkar Stadium, with everyone in the crowd chanting the RCB superstar's name.
Thanks to De Villiers' assault, RCB scored 68 runs in the final four overs, giving the crowd an innings they won't forget and the Royal Challengers some hope, even if that hope was snuffed out quickly by a professional batting performance from KXIP.
Watch the IPL 2017 highlights of KXIP vs RCB
Kings XI Punjab vs Royal Challengers Bangalore scorecard:
RCB: 148/4 in 20 overs.
KXIP: 150/2 in 14.3 overs.
Result: KXIP won by eight wickets with 33 balls to spare.
Bowling: KXIP: Axar Patel 4-0-12-1; Sandeep Sharma 4-0-26-1; Mohit Sharma 4-0-47-0; Varun Aaron 4-0-21-2; T Natarajan 1-0-13-0; Marcus Stoinis 3-0-28-0.
RCB: Billy Stanlake 4-0-41-0; Iqbal Abdulla 2-0-19-0; Shane Watson 2-0-28-0; Tymal Mills 2-0-22-1; Yuzvendra Chahal 3.3-0-29-1; Pawan Negi 1-0-7-0.
Fall of wickets: RCB: 2/1, Shane Watson (1 over); 18/2, Vishnu Vinod (3.3 overs); 22/3, Kedar Jadhav (5 overs); 68/4, Mandeep Singh (13.1 overs).
KXIP: 62/1, Manan Vohra (6 overs); 78/2, Axar Patel (8.1 overs).
