IPL 2019, RCB vs KXIP: AB de Villiers clears stadium with one-handed flick against Kings XI Punjab - Watch

AB de Villiers surprised himself by clearing the M Chinnaswamy Stadium with a one-handed flick off Umesh Yadav’s bowling during the Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kings XI Punjab IPL match on Wednesday. The six was measured at 95 meters and the ball landed on the roof.

In the fifth ball of the penultimate over of RCB’s innings, Mohammed Shami bowled a full bunger which was above the waist and the freak that is de Villiers, swiped it away with head ducked. The fluid swing of the bat sent the ball over fine leg and it landed on the roof. Well, even the batsman was surprised with this reflex action stroke.

Shami, scratched his head, and trudged back to his mark. The final ball resulted in a leg bye but the momentum was now in RCB’s corner. 21 runs were looted off that over and the genius of de Villiers had enamoured the cricketing world yet again.

The carnage was not over yet. AB and Stoinis then proceeded to hammer Hardus Viljoen for 27 runs in the final over as RCB screamed past 200. de Villiers was unbeaten on 82 while Stoinis finished with 46 runs.

“It was hard work. Initially, it was really tough. I thought anything around 160 will be par but we got more than that. I thought it is a tough wicket throughout. If you spend sometime on the wicket things become easier. Me and Stoinis were talking basic things of cricket: eye on the ball and head in right position. I pulled off a couple of good shots tonight which put pressure back on the bowlers. I think this is a winning score if we bowl well. But guys like Gayle and Miller can chase down anything,” AB said after the innings.