Locals turn AB into their hometown hero

Virat Kohli may be the new pinup for every boy and girl, but the world’s topranked one-day batsman is the darling of India. They flock to observe him practice in their hundreds, taking selfies from 50 metres away, with their hero a pale silhouette in the background. Kohli, a teammate of De Villiers’ in the IPL, tried to remind the Kanpur crowd who they were supposed to be shouting for yesterday, constantly urging them to raise the noise – but only when De Villiers was off strike.

“It is very difficult to bowl to AB in those last overs, because he can score anywhere.

“There were overs at the end, when we were conceding 40 runs in two overs. That kind of scoring is hard for the batsmen to come back from,” the embattled MS Dhoni conceded.

De Villiers, who cracked a 73ball century at Green Park Stadium, had to make sure that he didn’t fall to Ravichandran Ashwin, especially after casually stating that world-class spinner though he was, Ashwin hadn’t got him out in the T20 series. De Villiers had got himself out.

And so, he reined himself in when the off-spinner greeted his arrival, and blasted the others in the home attack to all parts.

He was especially brutal on poor Stuart Binny, India’s proverbial pie-chucker. It didn’t help India that Ashwin then limped off with a side strain, which put significant strain on the rest of his side.

“He was a big loss, just at the time that we needed him to bowl. Maybe they would have scored 260- 270, but we allowed them to get too many in the end,” Dhoni sighed.

One thing that the Indian public – and the team – has twigged about De Villiers is that he has a great sense of occasion.

He just had to reach his hundred off the final ball of the innings, and with a six. It’s his way.

“AB, AB, AB, AB!”