When AB de Villiers is on song, it hardly matters who the bowler is. Such has been RCB hitman's form in IPL 2018, and on Wednesday it was the turn of CSK bowlers to experience that as De Villiers hit a 111-metre six, the longest of the season so far, en route a 23-ball half-century.
Incidentally, it was De Villiers's country-mate Imran Tahir who was at the receiving end of that gigantic hit that went out of the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
It was a length delivery from the legspinner and De Villiers walked across his stumps and smashed it over long-on, and the ball sailed over the roof of the stadium into the parking lot outside.
No one is better than him. He is one of a kind. @ABdeVilliers17 @sherj_ #RCBvCSK #IPL2018 #cricket pic.twitter.com/HdQdaunTfi
— SAQI (@rawishz81) April 25, 2018
Next, it was the turn of Shardul Thakur to feel the heat as De Villiers hit him for three consecutive sixes - first a pick-up over mid-wicket to bring up his half-century, then straight over the bowler's head and the South African then followed it up with one struck on the up and over long-off.
De Villiers added 103 runs in no time with fellow South African and RCB opener Quinton de Kock, who was dismissed by Dwayne Bravo for 53 in 37 balls, including a boundary and four sixes.
However, Tahir had his revenge soon as he dismissed De Villiers for 68 off 30 balls, caught in the deep by Sam Billings. The entertaining knock included 2 fours and 8 sixes.
RCB ended up scoring 205/8 in their 20 overs.
Earlier, CSK skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and opted to field.
Both the teams made a couple of changes, with the hosts including Pawan Negi and Colin de Grandhomme in place of Manan Vohra and Chris Woakes.
CSK brought in veteran spinners Harbhajan Singh and Tahir in place of Karn Sharma and Faf du Plessis.
