It was Spiderman stuff: Kohli on ABD
Bengaluru, May 18: AB de Villiers said it looked tougher than it actually was but his gravity-defying boundary catch during an IPL match was declared “spiderman stuff” by an awestruck India and Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli.
RCB defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by 14 runs last night to keep their play-off hopes alive. The outstanding moment of the match was the one-handed catch that de Villiers took while being airborne at the boundaryline to dismiss Alex hales. “AB’s catch was spiderman stuff, you don’t do that as normal human beings. His shots still leave me in awe, the fielding unbelievable,” Kohli said.
De Villiers, however, sought to play down his clearly remarkable effort of leaping up high before sticking out his right hand at just the right time to grab the ball. “With the catch, I made it look tougher than it was. It curved away late, luckily it stuck. I got into a bad position,” said the maverick batman, who was adjudged Man of the Match for his 39-ball 69.
Kohli has endured a tough season as captain of RCB but a recent spate of good results have put the team back in the hunt for a knockout berth. “Now we head to Rajasthan with momentum on our side, the team’s feeling great. We’re happy with the XI now, it’s settled. Teams don’t want us to win, looking at the strength, they want us to not win. We sense fear and we pounce,” he said. — PTI When a squad is full of legends, a young cricketer can learn a thing or two everyday, says Mumbai Indians all-rounder Hardik Pandya.
“There are so many legends in the team and every day, we get to learn a new thing. So, it is a dream come true for me to play for Mumbai Indians,” Pandya said.
Mumbai Indians are the the defending champions and they have won the IPL title three times. They are pitted against Delhi Daredevils in their last match here on Sunday, which will decide whether they qualify for the the play-offs or not. The Rohit Sharma-led side is coached by former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene. — PTI