After announcing his retirement from international cricket in 2018, AB de Villiers announced his retirement from all forms of cricket on Friday. His decision took the world by storm as social media was flooded with congratulatory messages and tributes for the batting maestro. The influential genius was one of his kind.
The legend has many unmatched achievements to his name. Be it international cricket or in the IPL as well, the Proteas batter always contributed for his team more often than not. While his critics keep pointing out the fact that he never won an ICC trophy or an IPL trophy, the reality is he was as valuable as a trophy.
Over the years, there have been several instances where the 37-year-old played the lone warrior knock. South Africa (SA) and the Royal Challengers Bangalore have witnessed a lot of games where he was the only player who performed well for their team.
Here are 5 occasions when AB de Villiers was the lone warrior for South Africa and RCB in losing causes:
1) 43 off 297 vs India (2015)
Despite this not being a fifty or a hundred, this knock has to be one of the greatest knocks of all time. Grit, determination, perseverance, fortitude, this performance had it all. This 43 proved how versatile the batting legend truly is.
While the fans generally associate ABD as an aggressive player, those who have closely watched his career wouldn’t be shocked by this knock. It came in the fourth and final Test against India in 2015. While trying to save the Test, the former Proteas captain played out of his skin in an attempt to draw the game, and salvage some pride as India had already won the series.
He batted for 297 deliveries for his 43. He managed to frustrate the Indian bowlers so much that they then focused on dismissing the other batters and not him. However, his valiant efforts went in vain as India finally managed to dismiss him and in the process, went on to win the match as well.
2) 112 off 107 vs India (2015)
De Villiers has a superb record against India and loves playing against them. However, in this knock, he tried his level best to create a miracle but failed to do so. This would have to be one of the best centuries in a losing cause.
It came in the fourth of the five-match ODI series in 2015. The Proteas were leading the series 2-1 and ABD was captaining the Proteas team. However, a brilliant hundred by Virat Kohli meant that South Africa had to chase a mammoth total of 300.
South Africa kept on losing wickets at regular intervals but their captain stood tall like a wall. The “Mr. 360” went on to score a brilliant 112 from just the 107 deliveries. His monumental efforts weren’t enough as his side fell short of 35 runs and thus, lost the game.
3) 77 off 58 vs Pakistan (2015)
Nothing gets bigger than the World Cup, it is the pinnacle of cricket for a reason. While the Proteas have traditionally been the “chokers” at the World Cup games, the same cannot be said of their former skipper AB de Villiers.
During the 2015 World Cup, the genius was having a tournament to remember as he was at his absolute best. However, his lone warrior knock against Pakistan was one of his best knocks in that edition of the mega-event. The then skipper of the Proteas scored a valiant 77.
It came off just the 58 deliveries and consisted of seven boundaries and five sixes. However, wickets at regular intervals meant that he was unable to win the game for his side. Thus, Pakistan managed to beat South Africa by 29 runs.
4) 56 off 32 vs Sunrisers Hyderabad (2020)
The Protests legend has been one of the greatest players in IPL history, he has also been synonymous with RCB. There’s a reason why the fans at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore keep chanting his name whenever he walks in to bat. However, he had to be the one-man army for his franchise on numerous occasions.
One of them was in 2020 against the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). The fact that it came in the Eliminator made it even more special. The Proteas batter came to bat in the third over when his side lost two wickets for just the 15 runs.
In tricky and testing conditions, he went on to score a superb 56 off just the 32 deliveries at a strike rate of 130.23. Despite all his efforts, he kept running out of partners and RCB thus ended up scoring just the 131. SRH ended up chasing it, which resulted in RCB getting knocked out of the tournament.
5) 89 vs Kings XI Punjab (2017)
2017 was a year to forget for RCB and their fans. Nevertheless, the batting machine yet had a match to remember for ages. This knock came against the Punjab Kings (Then Kings XI Punjab).
After missing the first two games of the tenth edition of the league, the Superman of cricket went berserk in the first IPL game of 2017. Despite losing two early wickets in conditions that seemed difficult for the batters, ABD was batting like a dream. He went on to score a lone warrior knock of 89.
It came off just the 46 deliveries at a whopping strike rate of 193.48. He scored more than half the runs of his team as Bangalore got to a sub-par total of 148. However, Punjab went on to chase the total with ease.
from CricTracker https://ift.tt/3DBgo1J
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