IPL 2020: AB de Villiers joins Chris Gayle in special RCB club
Chris Gayle
AB de Villiers smashed his 200th six for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on Monday. He achieved the milestone during Indian Premier League (IPL) match between RCB and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Dubai.
Before Monday's match, de Villiers was one six away from reaching the 200-mark. After Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) were put to bat first, de Villiers walked in to take the crease in the 12th over. It took a while but in the penultimate over, de Villiers smashed a Sandeep Sharma delivery for a maximum, which was the landmark six. The next delivery also went for a six, his 201st in India's T20 league.
The former South African batsman is only the third batsman to have hit 200 or more sixes in the IPL after leader Chris Gayle (326 sixes), and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper MS Dhoni (209). Next on the list are CSK star Suresh Raina and Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Rohit Sharma, who have hit 194 sixes each so far in the tournament.
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Out of Gayle's 326 sixes, 239 came in the RCB jersey. With 190 sixes, Virat Kohli is third on the list of RCB players to have hit the most number of sixes.
Debutant Devdutt Padikkal and Aaron Finch gave RCB a brilliant start as they powered the Bangalore side to 86 in 10 overs. SRH returned into the match by removing the pair in two back-to-back overs before T Natarajan dismissed RCB captain Kohli three overs later, to leave the side in a fix. De Villiers, who has been associated with the side since 2012, took charge and led from the front. He went on to register his 24th fifty before getting run out in the final over for 30-ball 51. RCB managed to score 163 for 5 in 20 overs.
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