On this day in 2014 – ABD helps RCB beat SRH in a thriller

The action in the Indian Premier League was set to return to its motherland after the first phase of the league stage was held in the UAE. RCB were in a precarious position having lost three games in a row after two wins in the first two games of the 2014 season. The team needed to stem the downward slide as they took on the Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Chinnaswamy stadium.

Sunrisers were inserted in to bat first by Virat Kohli. Aaron Finch and Shikhar Dhawan struggled initially against the pace of Mitchell Starc. Starc got his fellow Aussie fending against pace and bounce; a searing bouncer seeing off Aaron Finch. When KL Rahul cut one into the safe, giant hands of Chris Gayle at slip, Sunrisers were struggling at 29/2 after 4 overs. The innings received substance through a 62-run partnership between David Warner, batting at 4, and Shikhar Dhawan. However, the aggressive duo found it tough to accelerate as reflected by the partnership run rate of less than 7 an over for the 62 runs. 

When Shikhar Dhawan fell to a mistimed pull shot off Varun Aaron, Sunrisers Hyderabad had a platform to launch from with 7 overs to go. Darren Sammy had been promoted to no.5 to give the innings a knock from its deep slumber. But, just like his teammates, Sammy found the going tough and was eventually dismissed for a run-a-ball 8. The innings finally got the takeoff it needed when Warner launched into Ashoke Dinda in the 18th over; 16 coming off it which included two sixers. The last two overs went by uneventfully, much like the Sunrisers’ innings and the target for RCB was a seemingly straightforward 156. 

Just when RCB must have felt that they could have a comfortable evening, Sunrisers made their way back into the game. Two wickets - that of Parthiv Patel and the big one of Virat Kohli - fell in the second over of the innings bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Rilee Rossouw, the Protean southpaw joined Chris Gayle and his struggles washed away the pseudo feeling of this being an easy chase. At 16/2, 27 balls into the innings, the game was going nowhere for RCB. That’s when Gayle decided to take matters into his own hands. Ishant Sharma faced the giant’s ire and the next three balls doubled the score. 

Dale Steyn was left speechless at the genius of De Villiers and all he could do was applaud

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Just when the chase seemed to be taking off, Gayle hit one flat to Sammy at deep mid-wicket in the first over after the powerplay. With Rossouw having a nightmare adapting to new conditions, and De Villiers just in, the Chinnaswamy crowd had to wait another 28 balls before another boundary was hit. Rossouw had a day to forget as his night ended with a 23-ball 14; an innings which did more harm than good to RCB’s cause. De Villiers now had Yuvraj Singh at the other end and the duo looked to build a partnership to give RCB’s chase a backbone. The two stars of world cricket went about their job professionally, playing percentage cricket, putting away the occasional loose delivery to the boundary. Unlike his peers, de Villiers found no problems ploughing through the opposition bowling.

With the required rate reaching almost 12 an over, Yuvraj decided to take on the leg spin of Karn Sharma. He succeeded in his first attempt with a straight hit smashing the sight-screen. But, much like Gayle, Yuvraj perished as he looked to take on the on-side boundary. The hopes of RCB were now entirely reliant on one man, AB De Villiers with 59 needed off the last 5 overs. Despite the dismissal of Yuvraj in the previous over, de Villiers chanced his arm against Darren Sammy and the move paid off. 19 runs came off the 16th over and the game was back on. 40 were now needed off the last 4 overs.

However, Sunrisers would have been confident of defending the runs with Dale Steyn and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, having 3 overs left between them. The 17th and the 18th overs went for only 12 between them. Steyn was to bowl the 19th over with still 28 needed. Steyn would have had a flashback. He was to bowl at de Villiers at the same venue where he had been taken for 23 runs in a similar situation. The first ball was an off-cutter which De Villiers swatted away for a six. The next, a wide yorker which was deposited over long-off. Steyn must have now been beginning to fear the worst. A leg bye which put de Villiers off strike would have brought him some relief. A single off the next ball later, Steyn was back facing his demons, having to bowl at De Villiers with 14 left to defend off 8 balls. The fifth ball was stroked over covers for a boundary. 

The sensible thing, most would think to do with 10 needed off 7 balls while facing one of the best bowlers going around, would be to take a single and get back on strike for the final over. Well, not if you are AB De Villiers. De Villiers went on one knee and deposited a yorker, which would have rattled the stumps if he missed, well into the stands over fine-leg. With one shot, a risky one for most, but a routine for AB De Villiers had killed the game. All Steyn could do was smile and clap at the genius of AB De Villiers. He finished off the game, fittingly with a boundary off the fifth ball of the last over, and had single-handedly won RCB the game from an improbable position. De Villiers had finished with 89 off 41 in a game which went at less than 8 an over.