Article – De Villiers – The Great !
Photo credit: OldGreySeaWolf from morguefile.com
A Historic Win by RCB over GL. It was an amazing win beyond imagination. It is inspiring to those who lose heart in the adverse situation. It is a great lesson to those who accept defeat and surrender to odds. Whosoever has been lucky to watch the Vivo IPL T – 20 – 2016 match on Monday – 24th. May at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium , Bengaluru played in between Gujrat Lions and Royal Challenger Bangalore cannot forget the chasing of 158 runs made by GL in the first innings.
For the veteran players like Gale, Virat Kohli, the captain of the team and the dashing and dynamic cricketer like AB De Villiers it was not a difficult task to chase this small runs. They had chased so many matches more than that earlier and had won the matches in an adverse situation. As such they were confident enough to finish this small total within an hour and half with ease but as the cricket is termed as the game of uncertainty, nobody can predict what will happen and how there will be a turning point all of a sudden beyond one’s imagination in the match.
5 wickets went down and the great players like Chris Gale and Virat Kohli were seen disappointed, their face turned pale. They were cursing themselves or their bad luck that they were dismissed so early like “Aaaya Ram, Gaya Ram.” The captain Virat Kohli was quite restless as seen walking one corner to another in anger and anguish, clapping on four and six but in formality, not from the core of heart as visible from his face and body language.
De Villiers was only the reliable batsman on the crease but with slow advance in making runs, the fielding was very tight and the GL team not allowing to make runs in four or six, catching the ball even at the boundary line and forcing to make one or two runs only. The players were at all places to catch and chase the ball. He was around 30 or so for a long time. Sometimes total score at the board was stagnant but De Villiers had sheer patience and was extremely confident to do something miracle in course of time. He waited and stared at the favourable time to make good of the shortfall in average run per over left out. Iqbal Abdulla was on the crease with him. Before him he was a novice but De Villiers encouraged him and guided him how to be cool and take advantage of the weak balls time to time and making a single run even as and when without risk. Abdulla followed him and remained in the crease till not won the match by 4 wickets defeating GL.
It was none but De Villiers who fought and fought but the problem was multiplied when Suresh Raina Captain of GL wanted to narrow down the equation 63 runs in 36 balls by decreasing the number of balls and simultaneously increasing the number of runs.
The whole field was tightly guarded by the players and everyone was very alert to catch the ball and stop four and six runs.
Suresh Raina talked to Jakati and asked him to bowl with a view to narrowing down the equation to 49 run off 30 balls.
Magically or by the grace of God or the result of the prayer of the supporters of RCB in a large number in and around the stadium and the people watching the TVs all over the world 16 runs came off Jakati’s over. Now the situation was reversed and all the players and supporters stood up with the hope against hope that RCB would be able to chase 158 runs with ease and would win and would qualify for as finalist. Now RCB needed 33 runs in 24 balls. Here De Villiers played a vital role as a matured player and as an able guide of Abdulla.
The crowd all around the stadium started chanting loudly in a single voice – A B D, A B D… It created an amazing scene inside. Not only this the captain Virat Kohli along with his team stood up on their toes and shoulder to shoulder too in queue to rush to the ground to greet their leader of the day – De Villiers – the Great on the finish of the match quickly.
A time came when Abdulla was 33 off 25 balls. He made up his mind to jump into action smashing Bravo’s off in 17th over. He also came up as a hero of the day as did what De Villiers wanted from him. He proved to be an amazing contributor and fulfilled the expectation of his team. He stayed as mountain all along with his partner and remained cool where needed and batted boldly where needed.
At last 11 balls left out to make merely 2 runs. De Villiers had no patience to wait and stare for four or six. He was on the crease to bat and very quickly he ran one after another 2 runs and led his losing team to victory – a victory that led the team to take part in the final match to be played on 29th. May – Sunday being the holiday for one and all to watch and enjoy it.
As it is a historic win by RCB over GL and as it is De Villiers who exerted his most so cleverly and enthusiastically to take the team to the final. its reminiscence will remain alive in the mind of the people who watched the match and the major contribution made by De Villiers the way he played so patiently, so effectively, so efficiently and what not!
I ,as a fan to him for a long time, do salute him and wish him all success in life.
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Writer: Durga Prasad, Advocate, Author, Journalist and Social Worker.
Dated 25th May 2016. Govindpur, Dhanbad.
